Australia’s largest home builder narrowly staves off collapse as construction crisis mounts

Terry Cook

Metricon, Australia’s largest home builder struck a deal on Friday for an emergency doubling of its working capital credit facility, in an effort to stave off bankruptcy amid a mounting crisis in the country’s construction sector.

The possible collapse of Metricon threatens the jobs of about 2,500 directly employed workers, primarily in eastern Australia, where it currently has around 4,000 homes under construction. Also facing an uncertain future are the numerous subcontractors engaged by the company, as well as suppliers of building materials, home appliances and furnishings. According to the Housing Industry Association, Metricon completed 6,052 dwellings last year and 4,354 in 2020.

House under construction in Manly, Queensland [Photo by Orderinchaos via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0]

Prior to securing the additional loan from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Metricon met with the New South Wales (NSW), Victorian and federal governments to discuss the possibility of a bailout package, rumored at $100 million or more. In an attempt to shore up consumer and lender confidence in the failing firm, Metricon shareholders have also provided a $30 million injection of cash into the company.

Even as the company was scrambling to secure additional funds, acting CEO Peter Langfelder, appointed after the sudden death earlier this month of Metricon’s founder and CEO Mario Biasin, denied the company had solvency issues and insisted the business remains viable.

Despite Langfelder’s assertions, the company has reportedly been pushing its salespeople to secure deposits for home construction projects in a bid to boost cash flow. Such deposits are 5 percent of the total cost of a build, therefore on an $800,000 home project, for example, the upfront payment would be $40,000. However, given the widely reported speculation of potential insolvency, it is highly likely that clients will either delay or withhold deposits undermining Metricon’s bid to overcome any liquidity problems.

The reality is that these eleventh-hour financial manoeuvres will do nothing to address the underlying crisis confronting the entire construction industry.

Russ Stephens, co-founder of the Association of Professional Builders (APB), estimated earlier this year that around 50 percent of Australian building companies were currently trading insolvent, based on the association’s monitoring of 2,680 Australian residential home builders over an extended period last year. 

An APB report stated that by October 2021, it was clear that the increasing price of construction materials, supply chain delays and COVID-related labour shortages were impacting the profitability of every single building company in Australia.

A number of the company’s major suppliers and subcontractors launched an advertising campaign designed to assure the public that there was no substance to reports of Metricon’s impending collapse. This includes Dulux, Fisher & Paykel, Fujitsu, Beacon Lighting Commercial and Civic Shower Screens and Wardrobes, all of which would undoubtedly be severely impacted by the failure of yet another major home building company.

In a bid to head off home buyers’ reluctance to risk laying down large deposits, Civic Screens Chief Executive Stefan Styles told the media: “We don’t believe the company is in trouble.” Even so, Styles warned: “The problem is that customers will become nervous and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Home buyers have every reason to be skeptical of such assurances. As speculation grew last week over Metricon’s possible demise, Pivotal Homes, one of Queensland’s largest home builders, went into liquidation. Another Queensland firm, Solido Builders, a small company that specialised in luxury houses, revealed over the weekend it had appointed administrators, adding to the string of collapses of home building firms and major commercial construction companies over the past six months.

In April, Perth-based Home Innovation Builders went into liquidation on the same day that another Western Australian company New Sensation Homes was placed in the hands of administrators. In March, Queensland-based Condev Construction, which specialised in multi-unit residential constructions, retail and commercial premises, industrial units and warehouses, went into liquidation.

Also in March, major construction company Probuild was placed in administration with $5 billion worth of unfinished projects across three Australian states on its books.

Other home building companies that went belly up over the last six months include two Tasmanian-based firms, Hotondo Homes, in February, and Inside Out Construction, in November.

Many of the failures have left behind a mountain of unfinished projects and home buyers millions of dollars out of pocket.

The pandemic exacerbated existing problems in global supply chains, delaying shipments and increasing the price of essential materials across every industrial sector. Steel, concrete and plasterboard underwent multiple price rises in 2021, increasing the cost of building a new home in Australia by between 15 percent and 50 percent.

Fixed-price contracts typically signed by Australian building companies do not contain cost-escalation clauses. As a result, these increases could not be passed on to customers, even assuming home buyers could afford the price hike, under conditions of stagnant or declining wages throughout the working class.

The “let it rip” COVID policies adopted since late last year by all Australian governments, Liberal-National and Labor alike, have caused repeated waves of mass infection, illness and death. In construction, as in many sectors, this has resulted in ongoing labour shortages.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the drive to keep production going, no matter what the cost to human health and lives, was spearheaded by the unions. The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU), in lockstep with the big builders, continually demanded that the sector be exempted from lockdowns and other public health measures, forcing workers to stay on the job amid a raging pandemic.

This is a logical extension of the role played by the unions for decades, enforcing the destruction of working conditions and the massive increase of casual, labour-hire and sham contracting arrangements across the construction industry. The unions have justified this assault by parroting the phony management line that it was necessary to ensure competitiveness and preserve jobs into the future.

Now, with construction companies failing in quick succession, destroying the livelihoods of workers, subcontractors and suppliers, the CFMMEU is virtually silent, except to warn that there will “likely be more pain in the industry.” The purpose of this is to shut down workers’ opposition to the crisis by leading them to the conclusion that they can do nothing but accept the inevitable further destruction of jobs.

Construction workers need to draw a balance sheet of the bitter experiences through which they have passed. This will demonstrate that they cannot leave matters in the hands of the unions, which are tied by a thousand threads to the corporations and the capitalist state, and serve as an industrial police force of management.

The crisis now wracking the construction sector, always a harbinger of what is developing across every sector of the economy, is a graphic example of the irrationality of the capitalist system itself.

Why are construction workers being idled and resources laid to waste when there exists a desperate need for the construction of vital social infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, as well as high-quality public housing to deal with growing homelessness and the lack of affordable accommodation?

It is because such pressing social needs, along with the provision of decent jobs, working conditions and living standards, are of no concern to the capitalist system, in which every aspect of life is subordinated to the ruthless and destructive drive for profits.

One-day national public sector strike against inflation brings Belgium to a halt

Gregor Link & Alex Lantier

On Tuesday, a one-day nationwide public sector strike paralyzed Belgium. Public sector unions in Belgium had announced strike action against the cost-of-living crisis and staff shortages, and for better working conditions. The strike brought together Flemish- and French-speaking workers across this country of 11.5 million inhabitants, hitting train and mass transit, logistics, postal and other public services.

Only a quarter of all trains operated nationwide, Belga news agency reported, with “few or no buses and trains” in Brussels and the francophone Wallonia region. Local and national public transport was particularly affected. In the Belgian provinces of Liège, Namur and Luxembourg, trains came to a complete standstill. In the capital, Brussels, only one of the city’s four metro lines was operating. In Antwerp, 55 percent of the buses, trams and metros ran.

Trains between Maastricht and Liège stopped on Monday evening, as well as many trains between Roosendaal and Antwerp. At the transport company De Lijn, 35 to 50 percent of departures were cancelled.

International connections such as the Deutsche Bahn’s Brussels-Frankfurt connection and Thalys’ Paris-Brussels-Dortmund train were also entirely cancelled. The Dutch press reported that no Belgian train traffic ran between Belgium and Germany, nor to Maastricht in the Netherlands or the duchy of Luxembourg, during the strike.

Rail workers defied minimum service requirements and other legal moves imposed by the employers to block or illegalise strike action. Workers “essential to the circulation of the trains” had to inform “at the latest 72 hours before the start of the strike, of their intention to take part or not in strike”, according to Belgian Train.

At least 75 ships were blocked in ports in Flanders as the strike closed down the locks. A further 65 ships were blocked at locks at Diepenbeek, Genk, Hasselt and Wijnegem on the Albert Canal connecting Antwerp to Liège.

Public broadcasting, waste collection, administration, postal services and education were also affected. Strikes at Belgian public broadcasters VRT and RTBF led to shortened TV news.

There was no rubbish collection in the regions of Wallonia and Brussels.

In Charleroi (Wallonia), a march started from the site of the Intermunicipal Waste Tibi and going towards the city center gathered Charleroi public service workers around demands such as increased purchasing power and more resources for public services.

At the Belgian post corporation Bpost, a large majority of post office branches were closed in Wallonia, and 65 percent were closed in Brussels. Four percent of post office branches were closed in Flanders. On Twitter, Bpost management announced that “the strike will have an impact on the service in post offices, contact center, collection, processing and delivery of letters and parcels.”

Prison staff also joined Tuesday’s strike. “Nearly three-quarters of our staff are taking part in the day of action,” General Confederation of the Public Services union officials reported to RTL, and “in some places there are even more.”

The Belgian strike is part of a growing movement across Europe against the global surge in prices driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and NATO’s war on Russia. This has driven industrial wildcat strikes and doctors’ strikes in Turkey, as well as mass strikes by metal workers and truck drivers in Spain. In Italy, a one-day nationwide strike by train and mass transit workers, textile workers, postal and delivery workers, and ferry workers brought much of the country to a standstill on May 20.

There is mounting anger in the European and international working class. According to a recent report from the National Bank of Belgium, inflation has reached its highest level in Belgium since 1982, at 8.97 percent in May. This is largely due to surging food prices and energy shortages, as the European Union (EU) moves to cut off critical oil and gas imports from Russia.

However, the Belgian government publicly declared in response to the strike that nothing can or will be done to protect workers’ lives or living standards. “Inflation is a difficulty that everyone must deal with,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo bluntly stated, refusing to announce any new measures against it.

“Business associations,” the Brussels Times reported, “went even further, arguing that a salary increase for public sector workers would stifle the country’s economic growth.”

While the strikes in Belgium and across Europe have unquestionably demonstrated the social power of the working class, they also have revealed its principal weakness: the lack of international organisation, coordination and socialist perspective.

Without this, isolated one-day actions, however powerful, cede the initiative after the strike is over to national trade union bureaucracies that work closely with capitalist governments and corporate management. Deprived of their own organisations of struggle, the workers are not mobilised again until the next one-day action, whose timing is elected by the union bureaucracies and their allies in state and banking circles.

The bankruptcy of such a national approach is particularly clear when the threats of inflation, pandemic and war all have an international and indeed global character.

Belgium has been particularly hard hit by COVID-19, which has claimed 1.8 million lives in Europe and an estimated 15-20 million lives worldwide. Early in the pandemic, the Belgian bourgeois press championed reactionary calls to spread the virus and reach “herd immunity” via mass infection and death. As a result, Belgium confirmed 4 million infections, over one-third of its population, and 31,574 deaths or 2,717 deaths per million inhabitants—the second-highest death rate in Western Europe after Italy’s 2,766 per million.

During the pandemic, Brussels, the capital of the EU, worked to pour over 2 trillion euros into bank and corporate bailouts. While massively enriching the investing classes, the EU and the Belgian bourgeoisie insist that no money should go to protect workers’ lives and living standards.

Even as Russian and US officials warn that the NATO military build-up could rapidly escalate into an all-out global war between NATO and Russia, the Belgian government is also sending tens of millions of euros in weapons to the armed forces and allied far-right nationalist militias of Ukraine.

In the initial weeks of the war, the Belgian state sent 5,000 automatic weapons, 200 anti-tank weapons and 3,800 tons of fuel to Ukraine. In April, it pledged to send heavy artillery including US-made M-109A4BE and French-made CAESAR howitzers. “What is important to us is that the Ukrainians be able to receive this material, that is the essential thing,” Belgian Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder told a session of the Belgian legislature yesterday in which she confirmed these weapons had been sent.

German Chancellor Fellowship 2022

Application Deadline: 15th October 2022

About the German Chancellor Fellowship: We are searching the leaders of tomorrow. Are you a graduate with initial leadership experience? Do you come from Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, India, the Russian Federation, South Africa or the USA? Would you like to implement a self-chosen project that supports your career development, is societally relevant and has a lasting public impact? Are you interested in actively participating in an international network of dedicated leaders? Then come to Germany with a German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to take the next step of your career.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: The German Chancellor Fellowship sponsors future decision-makers, multipliers and thought leaders – regardless of industry. We invite you to apply if you

• hold Brazilian, Chinese, Indian, Russian, South African or American citizenship
• work in a field such as politics, business, media, administration, society or culture and have demonstrable initial leadership experience
• will have completed your first academic degree (Bachelor or comparable degree) no more than twelve years ago when you start your fellowship
• want to conduct an independently developed project with a host of your choice in Germany
• have good knowledge of English and/or German

Eligible Countries: Brazil, China, India, Russia, South Africa, USA

To be Taken at (Country): Germany

Number of Awards:  Up to 60 German Chancellor Fellowships are awarded each year – up to ten per country.

Value of German Chancellor Fellowship: This fellowship for prospective leaders brings you to Germany for one year to implement a project idea you have developed yourself. We will help you network with international future leaders here to find new answers to the global issues of our time. We offer you

• a monthly fellowship grant of 2,170 euros, 2,470 euros or 2,770 euros – depending on your training and career level
• an intensive language course before you begin your fellowship and funding for German courses during your fellowship,
• individual support during your stay in Germany
• additional financial support, e.g. for accompanying family members, for travel expenses, for full private health insurance or for an additional German language course
• joint events where you experience professional and personal intercultural exchange with other fellows from your year group and gain insights into German culture and society,
• networking activities that enable you to collaborate in peer groups and independently organise smaller network formats with other fellows,
• a two-week study tour through Germany as well as a number of events where you can connect with other fellows and meet representatives of German businesses and institutions
• extensive alumni sponsorship, in particular to support long-term connections with your cooperation partners in Germany over the duration of your entire professional career

Your host institution will receive a monthly allowance for research costs of 500 euros.

Duration of Award: 12-month project in Germany

How to Apply for German Chancellor Fellowship: Before applying, you should discuss the details of your project with your chosen host.

Please submit the necessary application documents to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation online only.

• letter of motivation: Tell us what drives you, what leadership experience you already have and what your career goals are
• project plan: Outline the project you have developed yourself and agreed with your intended host prior to applying. Why is your project of societal significance, and how will you be able to build bridges between Germany and your home country in the future?
• extensive statement including mentoring agreement from your host in Germany
• two letters of recommendation (not more than 12 months old) from individuals who can provide information on your professional, personal and/or academic background

The online application form contains links where the letters of recommendation and statements can be uploaded. Please forward these links to the relevant individuals as soon as possible. We will send you a confirmation e-mail as soon as we have received all the required documents.

If you have any doubts or questions, please contact us (info[at]avh.de) before submitting your application. We are happy to help. Apply now

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Epidemic on Wheels: Rising Deaths and Injuries from Road Crashes

John Rennie Short

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated mind-numbing statistics over the past two years: half a billion cases, 6 million deaths, 1 million in the U.S. alone. But another, less-publicized global scourge preceded it and is likely to outlast it: traffic deaths and injuries.

Around 1.35 million people die each year on the world’s roads, and another 20 million to 50 million are seriously injured. Half of these deaths and many of the injuries involve pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists – the most vulnerable users of roads and streets.

Around the world, someone dies from a road accident every 25 seconds. The head of the United Nations Road Safety Fund has called road deaths and injuries a “silent epidemic on wheels”.

I have studied cities and urban policy for many years, including transportation and road safety. In my view, making transportation systems safer is feasible and isn’t rocket science. The key is for governments to prioritize safer roads, speeds and vehicles, and to promote policies such as traffic calming that are known to reduce the risk of crashes.

The costs

It may seem like hyperbole to talk about road deaths as equivalent to pandemic diseases, but the numbers make the case. Road fatalities are now the top cause of death for children and young adults worldwide between the ages of 5 and 29, and the seventh-leading cause of death overall in low-income countries.

Crashes cause serious economic harm to victims and their families, as well as to the broader society. A 2019 study estimated that between 2015 and 2030, road injuries will cost the global economy almost $1.8 trillion.

Because death and injury rates are highest in low- and middle-income countries, dangerous roads add to the costs of being poor and are a major inhibitor of economic growth. That is why one of the U.N.‘s Sustainable Development Goals is to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from traffic incidents by 2030.

More deaths in lower-income countries

There is considerable variation in traffic fatality rates worldwide. Road traffic death rates range from 27 per 100,000 population in Africa to only 7 per 100,000 in Europe.

Richer nations have had mass automobile traffic longer than lower-income countries, so they have had more time to develop strategies and tactics to reduce accidents and fatalities. For example, in 1937 – in an era when traffic death in the streets of cities like New York was considered a routine part of metropolitan life – the U.S. road death rate was 31 per 100,000. That’s about the same as today’s rate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Lower-income countries tend to have vehicles that are less safe; poorer roads; more vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, sharing urban space with vehicles; and poorer medical care, which means injury can more easily lead to death. These nations also have less ability to introduce or enforce traffic laws.

Traffic incidents in higher-income counties often only involve one or two people. In lower-income countries, incidents tend to involve multiple passengers.

For example, in 2021 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a fuel truck collided with a crowded bus 110 miles outside the capital of Kinshasa, killing 33 people. Deadly road incidents are frequent in the DRC, where the roads are poor, there are many unsafe older vehicles, many drivers are not properly trained and drinking and driving is common.

For many middle-income countries, the challenge is a very rapid increase in vehicular traffic as the population becomes more urban and more people earn enough money to buy motorcycles and cars. This quick rise can overwhelm the carrying capacity of urban roads.

In the US, less regulation and more deaths

There also are differences among richer countries. In 1994, Europe and the United States had the same traffic death rates, but by 2020 Americans were over three times more likely to die on the road than Europeans.

Today, 12 people are killed in traffic per 100,000 annually in the U.S., compared to 4 per 100,000 in the Netherlands and Germany, and only 2 per 100,000 in Norway. The difference reflects more aggressive programs across Europe to reduce speeds, greater investment in mass transit and stricter drunk driving enforcement.

The U.S. doesn’t just lag behind other rich countries in promoting road safety. In recent years, traffic deaths in the U.S. have increased. After a gradual reduction over 50 years, fatalities soared to a 16-year high in 2021 when almost 43,000 people died. Pedestrian deaths hit a 40-year high at 7,500.

What caused this surge in deaths? Roads were less busy during COVID-19 lockdowns, but proportionately more people engaged in riskier behaviors, including speeding, drinking and driving, distracted driving and not using seat belts.

Cyclist and pedestrian traffic deaths were rising even before the pandemic, as cities encouraged walking and biking without providing adequate infrastructure. Painting a white line on a busy street is not a substitute for providing a fully protected, designated bicycle lane.

Two harmful narratives about traffic safety

Two narratives often cloud discussions of traffic fatalities. First, calling these events “accidents” normalizes what I view as a slaughter of innocents. It is part of the cult of automobility and the primacy that the U.S. affords to fast-moving vehicular traffic.

Automobility has created a special form of space – roads and highways – where deaths and injuries are considered “accidents.” In my view, this is an extreme form of environmental injustice. Historically disadvantaged groups and poorer communities are overrepresented in traffic deaths and injuries.

The second misleading narrative holds that nearly all road deaths and injuries are caused by human error. Public officials regularly blame poor drivers, distracted pedestrians and aggressive bicyclists for street deaths.

People do take too many risks. In recent years, AAA’s annual traffic safety culture survey has found that a majority of drivers view unsafe driving behaviors, such as texting while driving or speeding on highways, as extremely or very dangerous. But significant numbers of drivers report engaging in those behaviors anyway.

But as urban studies expert David Zipper has pointed out, a persistent myth often cited by government agencies and the media asserts that 94% of accidents in the U.S. are caused by individual drivers. This bloated figure has successfully shifted responsibility away from other factors such as car design, traffic infrastructure and the need for more effective public policies.

Governments have the tools

As I see it, road traffic deaths and injuries are not accidents. They are incidents that can be prevented and reduced. Doing that will require governments and urban planners to reimagine transportation systems not just for speed and efficiency, but also for safety and livability.

That will mean protecting motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians from vehicular traffic and reducing traffic speed on urban roads. It also will require better road design, enforcement of traffic laws that make the roads safer, and more effective and enforceable measures that promote safety devices like seat belts, child restraints, and helmets for bikers and motorcyclists.

Unlike the COVID-19 pandemic, making streets safer doesn’t require designing new solutions in laboratories. What’s needed is the will to apply tools that have been shown to work.

German government and opposition agree on €100 billion special fund for war

Johannes Stern

On Friday, as part of the budget debate, the federal government plans to pass the so-called Special Fund for the Bundeswehr to the tune of €100 billion. This is the biggest rearmament offensive since the fall of Hitler’s Third Reich 77 years ago. It makes Germany the most powerful military nation in Europe.

Bundeswehr Eurofighter Typhoon

“The decision to now equip the Bundeswehr significantly better via the special fund will have a considerable impact. Germany will soon have the largest conventional army in Europe within the framework of NATO,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democratic Party, SPD) gloated in an interview with the Stuttgarter Zeitung on Monday.

In backroom talks the day before, the governing parties—SPD, Liberal Democrats (FDP) and Greens—had agreed to launch the special fund with the largest opposition faction, the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU).

“We have successfully concluded our talks this evening on an amendment to the constitution to create a special fund for the Bundeswehr with the purpose of strengthening alliance and defence capabilities, as well as on a law to finance the Bundeswehr and establish this special fund,” the parties announced in a joint statement.

They “jointly ensure that the Bundeswehr will be strengthened in the coming years with 100 billion euros in additional investments.” In doing so, “NATO's so-called two-percent [of GDP] target will be achieved on a multi-year average.” At the same time, “an initiative to accelerate procurement will be launched immediately and before the parliamentary summer recess.”

The government will also “present a strategy to strengthen security in cyber and information space.” Additional measures “for cyber security, civil defence and the strengthening and stabilisation of partners” would be financed from the federal budget. And even “after the special fund has been drawn down,” the “necessary funds would continue to be provided to achieve the NATO capability goals then in force.”

In other words, the rearmament plans go far beyond the special fund and amount to a permanent ballooning of the military budget. Even achieving the two-percent target means that the defence budget will rise from the current level of about €50 billion per year to well over €70 billion. Scholz had already announced the massive rearmament programme in a speech on February 27, presenting a long list of armament projects in the Bundestag.

It concerned the “next generation of combat aircraft and tanks,” the “Eurodrone” and “the acquisition of the armed Heron drone,” the Chancellor explained. Also, “for nuclear sharing,” he said, “a modern replacement for the obsolete Tornado jets will be procured in good time.” In any case, Germany needed “aircraft that fly, ships that set sail, and soldiers who are optimally equipped for their missions.”

The rearmament offensive is in every respect a declaration of war on the working class. The costs will be borne exclusively by workers. “I am inscribing on my banner: preserve the debt brake, avert tax increases, finance the Bundeswehr more strongly,” Finance Minister Christian Lindner told broadcaster ZDF on Monday. In a year of war and crisis, this was “a good start to continuing budget consolidation.” In 2023, for him, “the debt brake is non-negotiable.”

What that means is obvious. Every cent that flows into rearmament and war will be taken from the working class. This year, the departments of labour and social affairs and education will be cut by a total of more than five billion euros. And that is only the beginning. To get a better grasp of the dimension of the impending slash-and-burn: The current education budget, at around €20 billion, is just about one-fifth of the planned Bundeswehr special fund.

Very directly, rearmament serves the escalation of the NATO war against Russia. In his interview with the Stuttgarter Zeitung, Scholz bragged about Germany's leading role in arming Ukraine. He said that Germany had already “supplied weapons on a large scale from Bundeswehr stocks, for example hundreds of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, thousands of anti-tank mines and hand grenades, many millions of rounds of ammunition.”

In addition, his government had “compiled a list of military equipment that the Ukrainian defence ministry can order from the German arms industry.” This included heavy weapons such as Gepard anti-aircraft guns. And the self-propelled Howitzer 2000 was being delivered and Ukrainian military personnel were being trained on the weapon systems “so that they can also operate this equipment.” In addition, Eastern European countries “that transferred Russian-made weapons”—including battle tanks—“to Ukraine, which can be used there immediately,” would be supported by backfilling.

In the general debate in the Bundestag on Wednesday, Scholz announced further arms deliveries and promised to supply Ukraine with the modern Iris-T air defence system and tracking radar.

Representatives of the same ruling class that conducted a war of extermination against the Soviet Union in World War II are now reiterating that Germany’s war aim today is the military defeat of Russia.

“Russia must not win this war under any circumstances, and that means this needs a strategic defeat for Russia,” Green Party Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock demanded on Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday. “Ukraine must be able to win,” and that was why “it is so crucial we continue to support Ukraine in this situation, continue to ensure they can push back Russian troops in the Donbass in particular.”

Officially, Scholz, Baerbock and Co. justify their “foreign policy turn” with Putin's invasion of Ukraine. But this is pure propaganda. In fact, the plans—including the €100 billion 'special fund'—were prepared long in advance.

With the systematic military encirclement of Russia, NATO deliberately provoked the Ukraine war. Now, the imperialist powers are escalating the conflict to subjugate a resource-rich Russia. In the process, Berlin is pursuing the goal of establishing itself as the leading European power and building independent German-European military structures to pursue its global interests—increasingly, also, against the United States.

“The EU must finally give itself a foreign and defence policy that includes, for example, joint cyber and missile defence. EU states could also acquire joint aircraft carriers to become operational in self-defence or the world's crisis areas,” Manfred Weber, leader of the European People's Party (EPP) bloc in the EU, told Der Spiegel in a recent interview.

And regarding the United States, he added, “The role of the USA is elementary at the moment. But in the long term they may not be able to remain our protective power but will have to turn to Asia. Therefore, the EU must conduct its own foreign and security policy and get down to the nitty-gritty. This includes the question of the nuclear shield.”

Tüpraş workers occupy Aliağa refinery in Turkey to oppose layoffs

Ulaş Ateşçi

Workers at the Aliağa, Izmir refinery of Turkey’s largest enterprise, Tüpraş, have occupied the plant to oppose management's layoff plans since Saturday. Workers mobilized after Petrol-İş union officials approved the layoffs. The occupation of the plant defied a ban on strikes in the petrochemical sector imposed by Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2012.

Tüpraş, owned by Koç Holding, one of Turkey’s largest conglomerates, had recently informed the union that 88 workers would be laid off from the Kırıkkale, Batman, Kocaeli and Aliağa refineries, which employ around 4,000 workers. Twenty-seven were to be laid off from the Aliağa refinery.

Petrol-İş union headquarters reportedly informed union locals of the names of the workers to be dismissed and told them to restrain action by the workers against the layoffs.

On May 23, a Tüpraş worker in Aliağa told the daily Evrensel: “We cannot say that we will fight with the union behind us in processes such as dismissal or punishment by the disciplinary board. Union headquarters has the attitude of let them do it, and the local branch cannot prevent these processes. Tüpraş workers are forced by their union to surrender to the company’s pressures.”

The union’s Aliağa local, which kept silent until the struggle broke out, is cynically claiming to sympathize with the struggle while working to end the wildcat action and prevent a stoppage in production. On Monday morning, Petrol-İş Aliağa Branch President Hasan Toptan’s said: “Our protests, which have been going on inside the refinery for two days, will continue in front of the gate as of today, and if necessary in Aliağa Square ...”

But before the workers mobilized on Saturday, branch officials met with company managers, police, and the district governor’s office, without calling for any action. They feared the impact of a mass struggle by workers at this strategically vital enterprise.

After the plant occupation began, Toptan blatantly said that the union “will not negotiate with the employer over 27 people,” while Branch Vice President Gökhan Karataş said: “We said that let’s follow our 27 friends on the list until January, if they continue to work under the conditions that you bring and present to us with excuses, if they are stealing, we will not stand behind them, but we could not come to a reconciliation point.”

This is, in effect, an admission that the union officials secretly discussed the layoffs behind workers’ backs. They did not seek to prevent the layoffs, but only to delay them in order to appease the workers.

The transformation of unions into an extension of corporations conspiring against the workers is an international phenomenon. On Saturday night, the United Steelworkers (USW) union in the US sabotaged a strike by Chevron oil refinery workers, calling for an immediate end to the two-month struggle of 500 workers.

The layoffs come after years of real wage and benefit losses. Petrol-İş, which serves as a corporate labor police in this key enterprise, signed a contract last March without workers’ approval. With official annual inflation reaching 70 percent, the union accepted a 40 percent increase for the first 6 months of the three-year collective agreement and raises below inflation after that.

During the 2019 contract negotiations, workers independently took action against the company’s dictates, occupying four refineries. Ultimately, the union ended the struggle, and the High Arbitration Council imposed a wage increase below inflation, meaning loss in real wages.

Last month, Tüpraş reportedly punished two Aliağa workers with a week of unpaid leave after they exercised their “right not to work” by refusing to be subcontracted.

The growing attacks on Tüpraş workers come as the company makes huge profits. In the first quarter of 2022, Tüpraş had net sales of 76.5 billion Turkish lira ($4.66 billion), increasing its sales by 286 percent over the same period last year. In the first quarter, it posted net profits of nearly 896 million TL ($54.63 million).

The corporate and financial oligarchy has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by a draconian increase in exploitation of the workers. In Turkey, wage labor received 31.4 percent of national income in 2019, but this fell to 27 percent in 2021. Business’ share of national income, on the other hand, rose from 42.9 percent to 47 percent over that period.

In its “Strategic Transformation Plan” last November, Tüpraş called to focus on “Sustainable Refining, Bio-fuels, Zero Carbon Electricity and Green Hydrogen.” Accordingly, it committed to reducing carbon emissions from its operations by 27 percent by 2030 compared to 2017 and to be carbon neutral by 2050. Tüpraş intends for workers to pay for this plan with layoffs, stepped-up exploitation, and wage and benefit cuts.

The surge in the cost of living from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and NATO sanctions against Russia is driving workers into struggle in Turkey and internationally. While official annual inflation is at 70 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute found that prices rose 105 percent in transportation and 89 percent in food and non-alcoholic beverages. The Inflation Research Group, made up of independent economists and academics, calculated that real inflation actually reached 156 percent.

The Turkish lira has collapsed. While it took 8.40TL to buy US$1 in May 2021, today it takes 16.40 TL. In contrast, the minimum wage for around 10 million workers rose only 50 percent to 4,250 TL ($260). Yet according to the pro-government Türk-İş union federation, of which Petrol-İş is a part, the poverty line for a family of four reached nearly 20,000 TL as of May.

As the rising cost of living and growing social inequality fuel the class struggle, various leaders of the capitalist class are calling on the government to approve a small increase in the minimum wage in order to prevent a mass social explosion.

A month ago, Orhan Turan, president of the influential Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), said: “We need to think about this [wage increase] for labor peace, and if possible, to pass this process without crushing [workers] with inflation.”

Last week, Ender Yorgancılar, Chairman of the Aegean Region Chamber of Industry, warned: “8 million people live on minimum wage. The purchasing power of minimum wage earners must not fall. People must live. People should be comfortable with the money they earn. Otherwise, hungry people will do anything.”

The struggle of the Tüpraş workers is part of a growing, international movement in the working class. Most recently, Turkish doctors went on strike for 6 days in May demanding wages and benefits, while health care workers organized a “White Rally” in Ankara on Sunday. January and February witnessed an unprecedented wave of strikes in Turkey, with at least 106 wildcat strikes.

Spain, European epicentre of monkeypox, enters seventh COVID-19 wave

Santiago Guillen & Alejandro López

Spain has officially entered a seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the highly infectious and immunity-evading Omicron BA.2 and XE, XT and BA.2.12.1 subvariants, even as it also becomes an epicentre of the monkeypox outbreak.

People walk along a boulevard in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

On April 20, the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government lifted compulsory masking, one of the few remaining public health measures left in place after the opening measures in March. Since April 20, nearly 2,000 people have died of COVID-19.

On May 28, there were 6,980 people hospitalized in Intensive Care Units (ICU), 1,300 more than the 5,635 hospitalized on April 20. The 14-daynotification rate of newly reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population is 663. However, this only counts the cases in people over 60. An incidence of more than 500 cases per 100,000 people is considered high risk.

The Ministry of Health registered 45,919 new cases of coronavirus this Friday, including 22,120 that occurred in people over 60 years of age. The total number of recorded COVID-19 infections now stands at 12,360,256, or over one-quarter of the population.

In addition, 260 deaths have been recorded in the last week, making the official deaths from COVID-19 106,341 people. This is a significant underestimate. According to an investigation published by The Lancet magazine in March, from December 2019 to December 2021, excess deaths in Spain from the virus stand at 162,000, 64 percent higher than the official figure of 98,900 reported in December.

The data show that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a serious danger. The PSOE-Podemos government has, however, reacted with complete indifference, continuing its “let it rip” strategy of mass infection, allowing COVID-19 to continue to infect, incapacitate and kill tens of thousands.

Key to this policy is “normalising” the virus by equating its treatment with the flu. Over the last two months, the PSOE-Podemos government eliminated practically all restrictions and controls on the spread of the pandemic. These include:

• The requirement to self-isolate if infected with COVID-19, other than in vulnerable settings like elderly homes.

• Limiting access to accurate PCR tests, now only available on medical prescription.

• Lifting mandatory use of indoor masking, except on public transport and in health centres.

• Removal of almost all measures in educational centres: quarantines; safety distancing of 1.2 meters between pupils; the bubble system; fixed seats on school buses; and preventing parents from re-entering schools and participating in face-to-face tutoring.

This PSOE-Podemos policy is rooted in class interests: to treat “economic health” and “human life” as comparable, with the former prioritised over the latter. After eliminating quarantines, the Health Ministry established that sick leave should no longer be given to close contacts of COVID-19 patients or to those exposed to COVID-19. Even those infected who are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms are denied sick leave, a measure the capitalist class sees as essential to keep workers on the job.

These measures have been denounced by health professionals. Last week, Margarita del Val, a virologist and immunologist coordinating the Interdisciplinary Thematic Research Platform on Global Health from the Spanish National Research Council established in March 2020 to fight the pandemic, denounced the PSOE-Podemos’ removal of monitoring of the virus.

During the first International Summit on Pandemic Management held in Valencia, she stated that we are in a “very difficult time.” She said, “We have little data and we don’t know what will happen, but I’m almost sure that when Christmas comes, with our usual behavior, we will catch other respiratory diseases and Covid.”

Dr. Francisco José Sáez, the head of the Occupational Health Working Group of the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG), also denounced these measures. He told the digital newspaper Acta Sanitaria that the lack of monitoring of incidence in those under 60 years of age clearly falsifies pandemic data. He said doctors do not understand “that if you have a sick patient under 60 years of age [with COVID-19], this will not be recorded. This explains why the prevalence of the disease is falling in Spain.”

Health professionals are also suffering from the state’s refusal to consider COVID-19 an occupational disease. Sáez explained that if a health professional has complied with all the health and safety measures, and gets infected, they will be told that “you have not caught the disease here and you will have caught it at home.” In other words, “if you get it, it was by mistake.”

Saéz noted: “right now, sick leave is not being given to people who get COVID-19 in a nursing home.” They are being told “that they can go back to work without problems if they put on the mask ... but if, later, one of these people develops Long Covid, it will not be recognised as such.”

The PSOE-Podemos government is not only condemning millions of workers to infection, but also leaving them defenceless against Long COVID. An estimated 10 percent of those infected suffer from Long COVID. According to the Multidisciplinary Working Group on the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1 million people are likely suffering from it in Spain.

Long COVID is not even considered an illness in Spain, however. Patients with this condition do not receive specific medical care for it and cannot get sick leave. María Lorenzo, a member of the working group of the Persistent Covid Asturias collective, said: “We depend on the family doctor to believe us when we tell him our symptoms, if not, he refers us to mental health services.”

Even Health Minister Carolina Darias acknowledged in March of this year that the Spanish health system did not have enough information on Long COVID. At that time, she announced that a study had been requested from the Carlos III Institute. But this is a cynical ploy. The study was entrusted to Ferrán Barbé, a pulmonologist who has publicly downplayed the virus and even denied its existence.

The study’s lack of rigour has been reported to the Ombudsman by organisations including the Long Covid ACTS Patient Groups and Associations Platform, the Long Covid Aragón Association, the Madrid Persistent Covid 19 Collective, the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG), the SATSE Nursing Union and the State Confederation of Medical Unions. They point out that the sample of patients in the study is too small to be representative, and that the study questionnaire is biased to avoid the fundamental symptoms of Long COVID.

None of this is an error or a coincidence. The PSOE-Podemos government is seeking to reduce sick leave and allocate the minimum health resources to treating the sick. The aim is to force the more than 1 million people affected to go to work while sick, and to save as much money as possible on their health treatment. At the same time, the European Union is spending billions of euros on sending weapons to Ukraine to wage war on Russia.

The PSOE-Podemos’ criminality in relation to COVID-19 is a warning about how it will react to the monkeypox outbreak. Spain has 142 cases of monkeypox, making it an epicentre of the virus in Europe. Luckily, all cases are evolving well and are mild, but limiting the contagion is essential. For this, early diagnosis and isolating the patient is important, something which the PSOE-Podemos government has already proven to be hostile to against COVID-19. The virus is now spreading rapidly in seven regions in Spain, with the Madrid region leading with at least 66 cases.