New Zealand in COVID surge as government plans new attacks on public health

Tom Peters

Another 44 deaths with COVID-19 were added to New Zealand’s toll over the last week, amid a surge of infections over the summer holiday period. The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 more than doubled in three months, from 141 on October 5 to a high point of 401 on December 21, and fell to 355 on January 7. The December peak was the highest number of hospitalisations recorded since January 2023.

Despite the dangerous rise, fueled by the abandonment of public health measures and highly infectious new COVID variants, the Ministry of Health paused its regular weekly reporting of deaths and other data for three weeks between December 18 and January 8.

New Zealand Health Minister Shane Reti [Photo: Facebook/Shane Reti ]

The 44 deaths reported yesterday have still not been officially confirmed as from COVID-19. Radio NZ reported, falsely, “There were no deaths this week as a result of the virus.” In fact, the Ministry of Health website states that nine of these deaths were not COVID-related, and for the remaining 35 the cause is not yet determined.

During November and December, around 20 to 30 people died each week of COVID-19. The country’s total deaths with COVID stands at 5,513, almost all of which happened after the then-Labour Party government ended its elimination strategy in late 2021, allowing the coronavirus to spread everywhere.

The Ministry of Health asserts that 1,596 of these deaths were not caused by COVID, and that 272 had an unknown cause. Its official death toll is thus reported as 3,645. Even this smaller figure, which likely understates the real toll, makes COVID New Zealand’s most deadly infectious disease, killing about 1,800 people a year—more than twice as many as those killed by influenza.

Moreover, COVID-19 has resulted in tens of thousands of hospitalisations and perhaps hundreds of thousands of people with long-term debilitating illnesses, or Long COVID. This can include severe and potentially life-threatening heart, brain and respiratory problems.

The current surge is fueled by the highly infectious and immune-resistant JN.1 variant, which has become dominant internationally. On December 23, the US had already reached the second-highest level of viral transmission of the entire pandemic, according to wastewater data.

Experts voiced concern about the situation in New Zealand in comments published by the Science Media Centre (SMC) on December 18. University of Canterbury scientist Professor Michael Plank said the latest wastewater data showed 10-15 percent of infections in NZ were due to JN.1. He warned that “we are yet to feel its full impact” and predicted a rise in cases in the new year.

Professor Nikki Turner, director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre at the University of Auckland, stated: “There is an enormous amount of COVID around at the moment.… With Christmas and New Year approaching, everyone is mixing more and going on holiday around the country, so we need to focus on who is at high risk of severe disease and how we can protect them this summer.” She warned people to stay away from others if symptomatic, and to wear masks in crowded areas.

Dr Anna Brooks, a Long COVID researcher at Auckland University, said: “The risk of developing Long COVID should be front and center as we continue to face waves of infection as variants evolve. Alarmingly, the risks are instead more often downplayed, despite the substantial and growing body of evidence that each infection, regardless of vaccine or infection history, carries a risk of on-going health harms, including but not limited to Long COVID.”

Epidemiologist Michael Baker told the SMC: “This wave is larger than the fourth wave early in 2023 suggesting that the pandemic threat is continuing to evolve in unpredictable ways.” He said this should be “a wake-up call for the NZ Government about the importance of a vigorous national strategy and program to protect us from Covid-19 and other serious respiratory infections. This program should include an updated Covid-19 vaccine, support for self-isolation, and a communication plan to maintain awareness about how to stay safe.”

The government and political establishment are ignoring these warnings. All mask mandates were scrapped by the previous Labour government, including in hospitals and aged care facilities. Labour ended self-isolation requirements last August, marking the end of all COVID related public health measures.

The impact of these decisions on public hospitals, drastically understaffed and overcrowded even before the pandemic, has been disastrous. On December 21, the New Zealand Herald reported that the emergency department at Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland was overwhelmed, with occupancy at 90 to 100 percent. “There were many drivers, but part of the rise in presentations was a relatively high rate of respiratory cases,” the report said.

Taupō Hospital experienced a doubling of demand during the Christmas period and a regional Health NZ spokesperson told the Herald on January 2 that this was partly due to COVID-19.

The ruling elite’s criminal policy of mass infection and death is deepening under the National Party-led coalition government formed in November. The government will stop providing free rapid antigen tests (RATs) and facemasks at the end of February, which will further accelerate the spread of COVID, particularly among the most vulnerable people in society.

As part of sweeping austerity measures targeting public services, the government is also considering cutting funding for free COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral treatments. Health Minister Shane Reti told the New Zealand Herald, “The funding for both is due to come to an end at June 30, 2024, and remains under consideration.”

According to the Ministry of Health, only 55.8 percent of people aged over 50 have received a second booster, which is essential to minimise the risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Public information campaigns encouraging vaccination have all but disappeared, politicians avoid mentioning the virus and, along with most of the media, behave as though the pandemic is over.

The repudiation of the most basic principles of public health by every government in the world is a damning indictment of capitalism. The corporate and financial elite deems any measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 an intolerable drain on its ability to extract profits from the working class. As a result of the “let it rip” agenda imposed in every country, more than 27 million people have died, according to the Economist’s estimated toll.

The trade unions also stand exposed. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, they provided a vital service to the capitalist elite by enforcing the reopening of unsafe schools and workplaces, facilitating the spread of COVID and thousands of avoidable deaths.

As Stellantis layoffs loom in US, global auto companies announce job cuts

Shannon Jones

Anger is building among Stellantis workers in Ohio and Michigan over the impending layoff of up to 3,700 workers at the Toledo Assembly Complex and the Detroit Assembly Complex-Mack. The layoffs are part of a global wave of job cuts in the auto industry including German parts makers Bosch and Continental as well as global carmaker Volkswagen.

Picketing Toledo Jeep workers on September 15, 2023 [Photo: WSWS]

Stellantis announced the job cuts shortly after the United Auto Workers pushed through new four-and-a-half-year labor agreements, which union officials claimed contained “historic” gains for 146,000 Stellantis, Ford and GM workers. In fact, the agreement pushed by UAW bureaucracy has given the automakers a green light to slash tens of thousands of jobs.

Both the Toledo and Mack plants build Jeep brand vehicles. The cuts will also impact parts suppliers in the area, with Syncreon in Toledo announcing it is cutting 68 jobs February 5. Borg Warner, a Stellantis supplier, is moving to close its facility in Kokomo, Indiana by the end of the year at a cost of 100 jobs.

The job cuts continue the stepped-up pace of layoffs that took place throughout the economy in 2023, with layoffs in the US almost doubling the 2022 figure, reaching 700,000. This assault on the working class is the intended result of the economic policy of the Biden administration and the US Federal Reserve, which has pushed interest rates to a 40-year high in the name of fighting “inflation.” In reality, the policy is aimed at deliberately driving up unemployment to undermine the growing strike wave in the US and globally.

The cuts at Stellantis will primarily impact temp workers, who received false promises from the supposedly “reformed” UAW bureaucracy, led by president Shawn Fain, that they would be promoted to full-time positions with passage of the 2023 national auto contracts. Instead they are facing indefinite layoffs, with no guarantee they will ever be called back.

Stellantis officials have said the cuts were agreed to by the UAW during contract talks. In a blatant act of deception, the UAW concealed this from the rank and file as it pushed for ratification of the deals.

The company justified the job cuts by absurdly claiming they were the result of the enactment of stricter car emissions standards by the state of California. The state has sought to ban the sale of gasoline-only powered vehicles, but not until 2035.

The cuts further debunk the claim that the 2023 contract was a “record” win for autoworkers. As the World Socialist Web Site has repeatedly warned, autoworkers face a global jobs bloodbath as the automakers transition to electric vehicles, which require less labor to produce. Industry reports project that one half or more of all existing auto jobs in the United States will be eliminated in the next five to 10 years in the transition to electric vehicles.

Workers told the World Socialist Web Site that a UAW Local 12 meeting Friday in Toledo exploded in anger after UAW officials failed to provide any answers about the upcoming job cuts at the Jeep complex. One second tier worker told the WSWS, “The TPTs (temporary part time workers) don’t know what’s going on. They’re not getting any answers from the union and there is mass confusion. They are outraged and they have plenty to be angry about. The union shut down the night shift local meeting because a guy was calling out the committee over the layoffs.”

A temp worker at Jeep who personally faces layoff told the WSWS, “I do not trust Fain. They had the layoffs planned before the strike. They had a strike just so they could say it was a ‘record’ contract. The contract was going to pass regardless. They showed that when they sent us back to work before voting.”

Ford and General Motors in the US have also announced impending cuts, with Ford reducing production targets for 2024 by one half at its Ford F-150 electric vehicle plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The production cuts mean that perhaps one half the plant’s current 2,200 workforce could face layoff. Ford temporarily laid off 1,600 at its Louisville Assembly Plant last November, following the signing of the UAW contract.

GM is indefinitely laying off more than 945 workers at its Lake Orion, Michigan assembly plant after delaying the start of production of its new electric truck. Another 369 workers are being laid off at the GM Lansing-Grand River plant.

In the wake of the signing of the UAW contract, Stellantis offered another round of buyouts to 6,400 of its 12,700 while collar employees. The company said it is a cost cutting move as it transitions to electric vehicles. The UAW contracts at all three automakers include “voluntary employment separation” buyout packages to further cut workforces.

Globally, automotive supplier Bosch announced plans to cut up to 1,500 jobs at two sites in Germany. The company called the cuts an adaptation to “changing technologies” in the auto sector, a euphemism for electric vehicle production. The company said it was in talks with the works council over “voluntary” layoffs.

Another German auto parts company, Continental, said it will cut “thousands” of jobs as part of a restructuring plan aimed at saving $428 million a year beginning in 2025. The cuts will take place in the company’s automotive division that produces software, safety features and autonomous driving technology. According to CNN, the cuts will be in “the mid-four-digit range.” The works council has reportedly “urged” the company to avoid outright layoffs through part time work, retraining and transfers.

Meanwhile, German automaker Volkswagen and the IG Metall trade union have agreed on a drastic cost cutting program that will entail job cuts, that, while not yet concretized, could exceed 10,000 workers. A major portion of the cuts will be borne by the remaining workforce through intensified production and suppressing wage levels.

The auto cuts are part of global job cutting by the employers including at BlackRock, the world’s largest capital management firm, which is cutting about 3 percent of its global workforce, 600 jobs. Newell Brands, the maker of Rubbermaid and Sharpie, says it is cutting about 7 percent of its office staff. In addition, UPS is laying off workers in Kentucky and Oregon.

According to a survey by ResumeBuilder.com, 38 percent of business leaders think layoffs are likely in 2024, with 22 percent of this group anticipating letting go of 30 percent or more of their workforce. Sixty-nine percent of business leaders are looking to reduce costs, 51 percent are anticipating a recession, 42 percent aim to increase profits, and 39 percent cite the replacement of workers with AI as reasons for potential layoffs.

Higher Education Scholarships In Taiwan 2024/2025

Application Deadline: 15th March, 2024

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: The students of eligible countries of the region of Asia Pacific, West Asia, Africa (Burkina Faso, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa, Swaziland), Caribbean, Central America, South America, Europe can apply for this scholarship.

To be taken at (country): Universities in Taiwan

Accepted Subject Areas: For undergraduate, masters and PhD courses offered at any of the participating University in Taiwan

About Scholarship: International education and training has long been one of the TaiwanICDF’s core operations, among many others. Human resources development programs play a vital role in assisting partner countries to achieve sustainable development, and education is a crucial mechanism for training workforces in developing countries.

The TaiwanICDF provides scholarships for higher education and has developed undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. programs in cooperation with renowned partner universities in Taiwan.

The scholarship recipients gets a full scholarship, including return airfare, housing, tuition and credit fees, insurance, textbook costs and a monthly allowance.

Type: Undergraduate, Masters and PhD Scholarship

Who is eligible to apply? An applicant must:

• -Be a citizen of List of Countries Eligible (including select African countries) for TaiwanICDF Scholarship, and satisfy any specific criteria established by his or her country and/or government of citizenship.
• -Neither be a national of the Republic of China (Taiwan) nor an overseas compatriot student.
• -Satisfy the admission requirements of the partner university to which he or she has applied to study under a TaiwanICDF scholarship.
• -Be able to satisfy all requirements for a Resident Visa (Code: FS) set by the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) set by the Ministry of the Interior, of the ROC (Taiwan) government (this means that the TaiwanICDF has the right to revoke a scholarship offered if an applicant cannot satisfy the visa requirements).
• -Upon accepting a TaiwanICDF scholarship, not hold any other ROC(Taiwan) government-sponsored scholarship (such as the Taiwan Scholarship) in the same academic year in which the TaiwanICDF scholarship would be due to commence.
• -Not be applying for a further TaiwanICDF scholarship in unbroken succession — applicants who have already held a TaiwanICDF scholarship must have returned to their home country for more than one year before re-applying.
• -Have never had any scholarship revoked by any ROC (Taiwan) government agency or related institution, nor been expelled from any Taiwanese university.

Number of Scholarships: Not Specified

Scholarship Benefits and Duration: The TaiwanICDF provides each scholarship recipient with a full scholarship, including return airfare, housing, tuition and credit fees, insurance, textbook costs and a monthly allowance.

• Undergraduate Program (maximum four years): Each student receives NT$12,000 per month (NT$144,000 per year) as an allowance for food and miscellaneous living expenses.
• Master’s Program (maximum two years): Each student receives NT$15,000 per month (NT$180,000 per year) as an allowance for food and miscellaneous living expenses.
• PhD Program (maximum four years; four-year PhD programs start from 2012): Each students receives NT$17,000 per month (NT$204,000 per year) as an allowance for food and miscellaneous living expenses.

How to Apply: 

• Applicants must complete an online application (found in Program Webpage link below). Then submit a signed, printed copy and all other application documents to the ROC (Taiwan) Embassy/ Consulate (General)/ Representative Office/ Taiwan Technical Mission or project representative in their country.
• Please note that each applicant can only apply for one program at a time. The applicant must also submit a separate program application to his/her chosen universities.

Visit Program Webpage for the Online Application System and more details about this scholarship.

Japanese Government MEXT Scholarships [Embassy Track] 2024

Application Deadline: 9th February 2024

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): Japan

About the Award: The Embassy of Japan is pleased to inform you that the Government of Japan will provide scholarship for Primary/Secondary school teachers who desire to take teacher training course and Japanese language training in Japan.

The scholarship is open to graduates of universities and teachers training colleges no more than thirty-four (34) years of age who have worked as teachers at primary/secondary schools or teacher training college for at least five years in their home countries at the time of application.

Beneficiaries shall upon their return, help to promote Japanese Language education in Nigeria.

Type: Training

Eligibility: 

(1) Nationality: Applicants must have the nationality of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japanese government. An applicant who has Japanese nationality at the time of application is not eligible. However, persons with dual nationality who hold Japanese nationality and whose place of residence at the time of application is outside of Japan are eligible to apply as long as they give up their Japanese nationality and choose the nationality of the foreign country by the date of their arrival in Japan. Applicant screening will be conducted at the Japanese Embassy or Consulate (hereinafter referred to “Japanese diplomatic mission”)in the country of applicant’s nationality.

(2)　Age: Applicants, in principle, must be born on or after April 2, 1990.

(3)　Academic and Career Background: Applicants must be graduates of universities or teacher training schools and have worked as teachers at primary/secondary educational institutions or teacher training schools (excluding universities)in their home countries for five years in total as of April 1, 2022. In-service university faculty members are not eligible.

(4)　Japanese Language Ability: Applicants must be keen to learn Japanese. Applicants must be interested in Japan and be keen to deepen their understanding of Japan after arriving in Japan. Applicants must also have the ability to do research and adapt to living in Japan.

(5)　Health: Applicants must be judged that they are medically adequate to pursue study in Japan by an examining physician on a prescribed certificate of health.

(6)　Arrival in Japan; Applicants must be able to arrive in Japan by the designated period(usually October) between the day two weeks before the course starts and the first day of the course. (If the applicant arrives in Japan before this period for personal reasons, travel expenses to Japan will not be paid. Excluding cases of unavoidable circumstances, if the applicant cannot arrive in Japan by the end of the designated period the applicant must withdraw the offer.)

(7)　Visa acquisition; Applicants should, in principle, acquire “Student” visas before entering Japan and enter Japan with “Student” residence status. The visas should be issued at the Japanese diplomatic missions located in the country of applicants’ nationality. Those who change their visa status to one other than “Student” after arrival in Japan will lose their qualification to be Japanese Government Scholarship recipients from the date when their visa status changes.

(8)　Applicants must return to their home country and resume their work immediately after the end of the scholarship period.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship:

• Allowance：143,000 yen per month. (In case that the recipient researches in a designated region, 2,000 or 3,000 yen per month will be added. The monetary amount each year may be subject to change due to budgetary reasons.)
• Transportation to Japan; The recipient will be provided an economy-class airplane ticket, according to his/her itinerary and route as designated by MEXT, from the international airport nearest to his/her home country residence, where in principle is in the country of nationality, to the Narita International Airport or any other international airport that the appointed university usually uses when they enter to Japan.
• Expenses such as inland transportation from his/her home address to the international airport, airport tax, airport usage fees, special taxes on travel, or inland transportation within Japan including a connecting flight will NOT be covered. (*Although the address in the home country stated in the application form is in principle regarded as the recipient’s “home country residence,” if it will be changed at the time of leaving from his/her home country the changed address will be regarded as “home country residence.”)
• Transportation from Japan; The recipient who returns to his/her home country within the fixed period after the expiration of his/her scholarship will be provided, upon application, with an economy-class airplane ticket for travel from the Narita International Airport or any other international airport that the appointed university usually uses to the international airport nearest to his/her home address, wherein principle is in the country of nationality.
  • (Note 1) Any aviation and accident insurance to and from Japan shall be borne by the recipient.
  • (Note 2) Should the recipient not return to his/her home country soon after the end of the scholarship period to resume his/her duties, the transportation fee for the return to the home country will not be provided.
• Tuition and Other Fees; Fees for the entrance examination, matriculation and tuition at universities will be paid by the Japanese Government.

Duration of Scholarship: The term is the period necessary to complete each university’s training course and should be between October 2023 (or the starting month of the course) and March 2025. Extension of the term is not permitted

How to Apply: 

• Applicants must submit all required documents to the Japanese diplomatic mission in the applicant’s country. The submitted documents will not be returned.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Important Notes: 

• (1)The recipient is advised to learn, before departing for Japan, the Japanese language and to acquire some information about Japanese weather, climate, customs, and university education in Japan, as well as about the difference between the Japanese legal system and that of his/her home country.
• (2)As the first installment of the scholarship payment cannot be provided immediately upon the recipient’s arrival, the recipient should bring at least approximately US $2,000 or the equivalent thereof to cover immediate needs after arrival in Japan.

Malaysian government targets workers and the poor

Kurt Brown

Malaysia’s ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition announced a cabinet reshuffle last month after more than a year in power. The changes are bound up with the government’s agenda to tackle mounting government debt by pushing through major attacks on the social and economic conditions of workers and the poor.

Malaysian Minister of Finance II Amir Hamzah (left) with Director General of Valuation and Property Services Abdul Razak bin Yusak in mid-December 2023. [Photo: X/Twitter @MOFmalaysia ]

One of the key appointments on December 12 was that of Amir Hamzah Azizan to the position of second finance minister, overseeing government spending and the federal budget. At a press briefing announcing the cabinet changes, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who also serves as first finance minister, noted “the focus is on the economy and not to be sidetracked by political pressures.” In other words, Amir Hamzah, who is described as a technocrat, is to carry out the dictates of big business without even the pretense of accountability to the public.

Amir Hamzah is a relative political newcomer with extensive senior corporate experience. Between March 2021 until his newest appointment, he served as the CEO of the largest Malaysian pension fund, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). Previously he served at senior levels at the state-owned oil company, Petronas, as well as ten years at Royal Dutch Shell.

What concerns Anwar and the Malaysian ruling elite is rapidly increasing government debt, currently RM1.5 trillion ($US322 billion), which is approximately 80 percent of GDP. They fear this will inevitably lead to credit rating downgrades, unsustainable levels of interest repayments, an inability to refinance, and ultimately default, ushering in political turmoil and the threat of a social upheavals as happened in Sri Lanka in 2022.

The danger was underscored when Fitch Ratings re-affirmed its BBB+ credit rating on the Malaysian government’s long-term debt on December 5, only a few notches above junk bond status. Fitch noted that one of the key risks that could lead to a credit rating downgrade was “an increase in the government debt ratio over the medium term, for instance, due to insufficient fiscal consolidation [i.e. budget cuts].”

This situation is made increasingly untenable due to debt being compounded by historically high budget deficits, thus necessitating more borrowing. The budget deficits for the three years 2021 to 2023 each exceeded RM90 billion ($US19 billion). The 2024 budget deficit is forecast to be RM85.4 billion ($US18.3 billion), which is still much higher than the pre-pandemic peak deficit of RM53.4 billion ($US11.5 billion) in 2018.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, centre with Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, left, and other leaders at UMNO headquarters, Aug. 12, 2023. [AP Photo/Vincent Thian]

For Malaysia's ruling class, a major demand is to reduce government price subsidies, on which workers and the rural poor rely to partly offset cost-of-living increases related to food, utilities, and fuel. While subsidies for 2023 were expected to tally RM64 billion ($US13.7 billion), the revised estimate is approximately RM81 billion ($US17.4 billion), resulting in a further increase in the 2023 budget deficit.

The insistence that workers and the poor must foot the bill was spelled out by former United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) health minister, Khairy Jamaluddin. UMNO is a component part of Anwar’s coalition government. Khairy, who is the son-in-law of former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was a former UMNO youth leader and a contender for party leadership until his expulsion by UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in January 2023.

In a November 27 open letter, Khairy demanded that Anwar “quickly arrest the drift and course correct by dropping deadwood in Cabinet” and “appoint a technically competent second minister of finance to drive tough reforms.”

These “tough reforms” consist of cuts to government subsidies, cuts to public sector pensions and salaries, which currently absorb almost half of government revenue, and the reintroduction of the goods and services tax (GST). These measures would have a devastating impact on working people.

The Anwar coalition government is already moving in this direction. The 2024 budget tabled in mid-October included an increase in the services tax from 6 percent to 8 percent. However, in line with Khairy’s demands, other sections of the business elite have called for introducing the GST.

The GST was initially introduced by the UMNO government of former Prime Minister Najib Razak. To a large extent, this was to offset significant falls in oil dividend revenue from Petronas due to a crash in the global price of oil from July 2014.

Set at a rate of 6 percent on goods and services sold in Malaysia, the application of the GST was much broader than the current sales and service tax (SST), was widely despised and one of the reasons for the shock defeat of the UMNO government in the 2018 general election. In 2017, the GST contributed 18 percent of the government’s revenue. One of the first acts of the first Pakatan Harapan government was to repeal the GST in mid-2018, replacing it with the SST on September 1, 2018.

The Pakatan Harapan government also floated the price of chicken on November 1, previously subsidised and capped at RM9.40 ($US2) per kilogram. It is estimated that this cost-cutting measure saves the government RM100 million ($US21.5 million) per month. The cost of chicken has already exceeded the former ceiling price, eroding the consumption of this primary protein by Malaysian workers.

Further cuts are in the pipeline. On November 27, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the government would introduce a targeted subsidy mechanism for petrol (referred to as RON95) in the second half of 2024. At present, RON95 is subsidised and sold at RM2.05 ($US0.44) per litre. It is estimated that without subsidies, RON95 would cost RM3.22 ($US0.69) per litre, a 29 percent increase that would disproportionately be felt by the working class who have to travel further for work.

Some of the other key cabinet changes that occurred on December 12 include a round-robin between three senior UMNO ministers. Specifically, UMNO deputy president Mohamad Hasan was moved from defence to foreign affairs, UMNO vice-president Khaled Nordin was moved from higher education to defence, while UMNO Supreme Council member Zambry Abdul Kadir was moved from foreign affairs to higher education.

At least one of these ministers, Khaled Nordin, expressed surprise at his reassignment. Behind the scenes, there is undoubtedly bitter infighting. Pakatan Harapan is an unstable alliance between Anwar’s People’s Justice Party, the ethnic-Chinese Democratic Action Party, the Borneo-based Gabungan Parti Sarawak, the Islamist AMANAH party, and UMNO.

UMNO ruled Malaysia from 1956 until 2018 through a combination of electoral gerrymander and police-state repression, including against Anwar himself. It is now little more than an unstable parliamentary front, having fractured amid deep divisions and rivalry in the ruling class.

The current coalition was only cobbled together in the facing of declining economic conditions and growing popular discontent after the November 19, 2022 election failed to produce a parliamentary majority for any party.

Mass layoffs begin in California as corporations retaliate against new state minimum wage laws

Joseph Hillmeyer

Mass layoffs have been announced for workers in the fast food and healthcare industries in California in response to two bills that will raise minimum wages for workers in both industries. Wages in the fast food industry go to $20 an hour this year, and healthcare workers’ wages rise to between $18 - $23 an hour in the next year.

Fast food chain Pizza Hut, operated by PacPizza, LLC, recently announced its plan to lay off more than 1,200 workers across California, as outlined in a federal WARN Act notice filed by the chain in December 2023. The layoffs reflect the ongoing social crisis in California, the country’s most populous state, as workers struggle to afford the high cost of living. 

Soon after passage of the minimum wage bill, Kaiser Permanente, one of California’s largest healthcare worker employers, also announced its decision to lay off 115 of its IT workers. 

Starting in April 2024, the minimum wage for California fast food workers will increase from $16 an hour to $20 an hour, a 30 percent increase that has faced increasing backlash from the corporations, who are seeking to avoid paying a living wage to their workers under the legislation.

First reported by Business Insider, the layoffs target delivery drivers located in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties as the two major franchisees plan to completely eliminate their delivery service, raising concerns about broader layoffs that would affect some of the lowest paid food service workers in the state.

The layoffs at Pizza Hut are just the tip of the iceberg. Industry analyst Mark Kalinowski predicts “more harm to come” as fast food chains “take action in an attempt to blunt the impact of higher labor costs.”

By removing “in-house” delivery services, Pizza Hut will rely on third-party delivery apps, including GrubHub, DoorDash, and Uber Eats, which classify workers as “independent contractors” to avoid paying employment taxes, essentially pushing workers into precarious employment as gig workers. The California economy has seen a steady increase in the gig economy over the last several years so corporations can avoid providing stable benefits and raises.

According to a 2022 study conducted by Neilsberg Research, there were more than 3.4 million gig workers in the state as of 2019. The study also showed that gig work increased by over 39 percent in California in the last decade, with a 259 percent increase in gig work in the transportation and warehousing industry. 

A national survey done by the Economic Policy Institute in 2022 also highlights the instability, poor working conditions, and poverty that gig workers face. The survey revealed that 29 percent of gig workers earned less than their state’s minimum wage, and three out of every five gig workers reported losing wages due to technical difficulties. One in every five went hungry because they could not afford enough to eat, and nearly one-third (31 percent) reported difficulty paying their utility bills. 

These layoffs show a wider trend of deteriorating working conditions as workers are being transformed into what are essentially day laborers, stripped of rights to reliable employment, employer-paid healthcare, pensions, and the right to an eight-hour day. The expansion of the gig economy has greatly benefited employers by slashing costs, benefits, and employee rights.

While workers in the gig economy struggle to make ends meet, millions of people across California continue to face poverty as well. Axios reports that over 3 million people in the state work at minimum wage, which was just increased to $16 an hour as of January 1, 2024. This minimum wage results in an annual salary of $33,280 working 40 hours/week with paid sick, holiday, and vacation time (benefits that are usually not extended to minimum wage workers), but this is still a poverty wage in what are some of the most expensive areas in the country. 

California Senate Bill, SB 525, increases the minimum wage for healthcare workers to between $18 to $23 an hour in 2024 with a proposed aim to achieve $25 an hour. However, when analyzing the specifications of the bill, it becomes clear that it’s ridden with qualifications and loopholes as to when workers will actually receive the touted $25 an hour. 

Workers fall into four different categories depending on their type and size of employer. 

Healthcare employers with more than 10,000 workers and all dialysis clinics will need to start paying all workers at least $23 an hour by June 2024, $24 by June 2025, and $25 by June 2026. Half of all hospitals are in this group. The second category refers to smaller health facilities with less than 10,000 employees. Workers in this group are to be raised to $21 an hour by July 2024; $23 an hour by July 2026 and $25 an hour by July 2028. 

The third group refers to hospitals with high levels of Medi-Cal and Medicare payor patient populations (over 90 percent) as well as smaller rural independent hospitals. Workers’ wages are to be raised to $18 an hour by July 2024 and then 3.5 percent annual increase until $25 an hour is reached. Smaller employers will be able to delay the $25 an hour until as late as 2033 when $25 an hour, which is already a poverty wage for a family of four, will be worth far less.  

Finally, the fourth grouping refers to community clinics, primary care clinics, rural, and free clinics. An estimated 100,000 workers fall into this category according to the SEIU-UHW’s website. Those workers will make $21 starting July 2024, $22 by July 2026, and $25 by July 2027. 

The increases affect about 40 percent of all healthcare workers in California, approximately 469,000 people, but they are too little and too late to provide families with a truly livable wage. Employers have already made clear the increases will affect their operating costs, and there is no doubt they will be used to justify mass layoffs, facility or hospital closures, and spending cuts in the state budget.

After signing the bill, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration indicated that it would cost the state budget $4 billion in its first year alone and soon after it came out that California now has a $68 billion projected budget deficit that will require significant reductions in state spending. 

While the minimum wage bill put forward by the Democrats and sponsored by the healthcare unions allows the Democratic party to posture as defenders of workers, nothing could be further from the truth.

At the top of the minds of Newsom, the California ruling elite, and the trade union bureaucracies when developing the minimum wage bills was containing the continued social unrest that workers across the state have showcased in recent months. This included the strike of 75,000 workers at Kaiser, the largest healthcare workers’ strike in US history in October 2023, that was betrayed by the union bureaucracies of Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (CKPU). 

The Coalition for Kaiser Permanente Unions (CKPU) deliberately limited the strike to three days, denied the workers their strike pay, and continues to donate millions of dollars in workers’ dues to the politicians who benefit from the healthcare giants they were supposed to oppose. Moreover, none of the demands over safe staffing were addressed, and the $25 an hour proposed minimum is far below what workers need to survive.

The WSWS wrote, “The CKPU claims to have won this new starting wage in California, but in reality, it is just the new minimum wage set for healthcare workers in California by a bill slated to be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.” 

Instead of striking for a real living wage and addressing the central concern over safe staffing, CKPU and the SEIU-UHW celebrated the passage of SB525, calling it “A historic achievement,” and “A real step forward in addressing short staffing in our facilities.”

A cost of living calculator from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology estimates that the minimum wage for a family of four in California with two working adults would have needed to be at least $30 an hour in 2023 to be able to afford all basic necessities such as food, rent, gas, healthcare, etc. This would need to be even higher in more expensive counties such as Los Angeles, San Diego, or San Francisco.

A recent report from the San Diego Hunger Coalition highlights that as a result of the cost of living, nearly one in four people in San Diego County were nutrition insecure as of March 2023, meaning they were unable to afford three nutritious meals per day. As families earn too little to cover their basic needs, food becomes one of the first areas that they can cut back on to save money. 

The report also highlights the growing crisis in providing enough resources for those in need as millions of dollars have been lost from the expiration of all pandemic-era social programs such as SNAP emergency allotments, the expanded child tax credit, and P-EBT, all of which gave millions of dollars to families in need across California during the pandemic.

The cost of living across California continues to rise despite the Biden administration touting “Bidenomics” as having cured the effects of the pandemic and inflation. In California, prices continue to rise in all of the major cities as the Consumer Price Index reports an almost 20 percent increase in prices over the past three years in areas like San Diego, which has now been named the most expensive city in the country according to recent figures from US News & World Report. 

The layoffs to both healthcare and fast food workers in late 2023 are only the beginning of what’s to come. With growing poverty, rising prices, looming recession, major deficits and mass layoffs, the social crisis in California highlights the diametrically opposed interests between workers and the ruling class. 

Protesters call for a cease-fire in Gaza on the first day of the California legislative session in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. [AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli]

The crisis in California continues to take on an increasingly international character and is bound up with endless funds that are siphoned off for war. The state legislature gathered for the first time in the new year on January 3, 2024, to discuss the $68 billion deficit and other pressing issues. Shortly after it began, dozens of protesters from Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow interrupted and ended the session with singing and dawning banners over the chamber in support of the Palestinian people, calling for an end to the genocide that has killed over 30,000 Palestinians and effectively displaced the entire population of Gaza.

Court documents list Jeffrey Epstein’s associates among political, corporate, celebrity elite

Kevin Reed

Three troves of previously sealed court documents related to deceased billionaire financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein were released by a federal court in New York City late last week.

Contained in the unsealed documents are the names of more than 150 people, including high-profile and powerful individuals within the capitalist establishment—politicians and celebrities, as well as less well-known figures from corporate, academic and scientific circles.

2011 photo taken at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion. From left: James E. Staley, at the time a senior JPMorgan executive; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; Epstein; Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder; and Boris Nikolic, who was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s science adviser.

The 180 exhibits, totaling 2,644 pages of mostly unredacted records, were released by Manhattan US District Judge Loretta Preska. The documents are court records from the defamation lawsuit brought in 2015 by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, against the billionaire’s longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Giuffre, who was a teenager when Maxwell facilitated and participated in her abuse by Epstein and others, filed the suit after Maxwell called her a liar. In a criminal prosecution in 2021, Maxwell was convicted of conspiring with Epstein in his sex-trafficking operation and is now serving a 20-year sentence in a Tallahassee federal prison.

Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 [Photo: US DOJ]

Judge Preska ruled in December that the Giuffre lawsuit documents should be unsealed and made public. They comprise depositions, incident reports, court filings, emails and other documents, and include the names of witnesses, accusers, members of Epstein’s staff, members of law enforcement and other people linked to Epstein.

The documents provide little new information about Epstein’s abuse of under-age girls. It has long been established that he and elite individuals associated with him engaged in depraved and criminal activities for decades without being arrested or prosecuted.

According to Judge Preska, most of the information in the newly unsealed documents had already been made public and the papers do not include salacious material about individuals other than Epstein. As reported by CBS News, “Much of the information has been previously reported, and many of those whose names are mentioned are not accused of any wrongdoing.”

However, the documents—largely derived from the testimony of women who were victimized by Epstein from the 1990s up to his first arrest in Florida on sex charges in 2007—provide further evidence that the socialite and billionaire wealth manager was well connected to a wide range of political, corporate and entertainment celebrities during the first two decades of his criminal sex trafficking operation.

In his 2007 prosecution, Epstein was charged in a 50-page indictment involving the Palm Beach Police Department and an FBI investigation that included 34 minors. The charges against Epstein involved allegations of sexual abuse of under-age girls as young as 12, some of whom were transported to his private residences in Paris for lavish parties attended by his elite guests.

This July 9, 2019 photo shows Jeffery Epstein's estate on Little Saint James Island in the US Virgin Islands. [AP Photo/Gianfranco Gaglione]

In the end, through the intervention of US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Alex Acosta, Epstein was given a slap on the wrist. A non-prosecution agreement was negotiated by his legal team, including Alan Dershowitz, which enabled the sex offender to plead guilty to state charges of “procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18.”

When asked later about his intervention, Acosta said he offered a lenient plea deal because he was told that Epstein “belonged to intelligence” and was “above his pay grade.” Acosta said he was instructed to “leave it alone.”

Jeffrey Epstein came to prominence within elite circles during the unprecedented rise in US social inequality in the 1990s. These were years of an offensive against jobs, living standards, working conditions and social programs under the Democratic Party administration of Bill Clinton.

Enormous fortunes were made by the capitalist elite, while past social concessions to the working class associated with the New Deal of the 1930s and the Great Society of the 1960s were stripped away by both Democratic and Republican administrations, with the complicit assistance of the trade union bureaucracy.

Epstein, a former New York City private school mathematics and physics teacher, went into private equity at Bear Stearns in 1976, through his acquaintance with the CEO of the investment firm, Alan Greenspan. After working his way into the Wall Street elite, Epstein became a well known figure in the lucrative and parasitic world of hedge fund management. Among his business activities during this time was a startup with connections to the Israel Defense Forces.

Epstein worked his contacts relentlessly while he developed his sex trafficking operations in the 1990s. In his 28,000-square-foot townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Epstein hosted lavish parties and ingratiated himself with the rich and famous, who were for the most part well aware of his sordid abuse of under-age girls.

In 2019, Epstein was arrested in New Jersey after being charged by a New York City grand jury with sex trafficking “dozens” of under-age girls in Florida and New York. He was refused bail and jailed in Manhattan. While awaiting trial, he was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019 under suspicious circumstances.

Although New York City authorities moved quickly to conclude that Epstein had committed suicide by hanging, there is substantial conflicting evidence that suggests the billionaire sex trafficker was murdered in his Manhattan jail cell.

The list of political and state figures named in the new documents includes Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Britain’s Prince Andrew, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Richardson, Ehud Barak (former Israeli prime minister), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Louis Freeh (former FBI director). Ultra-wealthy individuals named include Hyatt Hotels billionaire Tom Pritzker, hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin and the founder of Limited Brands, Les Wexner.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump pose for photos at the 6th annual Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation Golf Classic at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York, July 6, 2009. [AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey]

Among the celebrities named are Oprah Winfrey, David Copperfield (magician), Michael Jackson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Spacey, George Lucas, Cate Blanchett, Naomi Campbell, Chris Tucker, Bruce Willis and Camron Diaz. The named lawyers, scientists and academics include Alan Dershowitz, Stephen Hawking, Marvin Minsky (artificial intelligence pioneer) and Noam Chomsky. The list also includes the names of many of Epstein’s accusers and victims.

The new documents contain testimony and depositions given by Johanna Sjoberg, one of Epstein’s teenage sexual abuse victims. She describes an encounter with Prince Andrew at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion where she was groped by the British royal.

Regarding former President Bill Clinton, Sjoberg stated, “[Epstein] said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.”

In an email to a journalist in 2011, Virginia Giuffre said that when Vanity Fair (VF) was preparing an article for publication, “B. Clinton walked into VF and threatened them not to write sex-trafficking articles about his good friend J.E.” Clinton has publicly denied these accounts.

Sjoberg said she met Michael Jackson at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion. Asked whether she massaged Jackson, Sjoberg said: “I did not.” Sjoberg stated that David Copperfield was a friend of Epstein and that he attended dinner at one of Epstein’s homes and “did some magic tricks.”

Sjoberg mentioned Donald Trump in connection with a flight from Palm Beach, Florida in 2001 that included Epstein, Giuffre and a few others. When Epstein’s plane was unable to land in New York due to a storm, they had to land in Atlantic City.

Sjoberg recalled Epstein saying, “Great, we’ll call up Trump” and go to his casino. Sjoberg wasn’t asked if they met up with Trump that night, although they did go to one of the Trump casinos. Sjoberg said she was never asked to give Trump a massage.

There is evidence that Trump flew on Epstein’s plane at least once, and video emerged in July 2019 of Epstein and Trump partying together at Mar-a-Lago in the early 1990s. A housekeeper testified that Trump dined at the Palm Beach home of Epstein but never received any massages there. During the years in question, both Trump and Epstein were supporters of the Democratic Party.