Why is the fight to defend living standards, public services and personal freedoms, and the fight against imperialism, one and the same? Inspired by NZCTU President Sandra Grey’s refrain that “peace is union business”, I gave this public talk last month at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. This article is a lightly edited transcriptContinue reading “Imperialism – What It Is and How to Fight It”
Tag Archives: Aotearoa
Book review: The Significance of the Waihi Strike
Review by Grant Brookes, 28 March 2026. On the eve of World War One, New Zealand’s labour movement was approaching a crossroads. Down one path lay an end to imperialist slaughter on foreign fields and liberation from colonial capitalist oppression at home. Down the other, government by two alternating parties who differed over how toContinue reading “Book review: The Significance of the Waihi Strike”
Privatising healthcare – Kōrero at the Unions Wellington Labour Day panel
Unions Wellington asks: First up, it’s important to stress at the outset that government outsourcing in the health sector isn’t limited to hospital procedures, and the risks aren’t just related to expense. Outsourcing of surgery has captured most of the headlines, but the privatisation drive is just as intense in medical imaging, telehealth, medical laboratories, diagnosticContinue reading “Privatising healthcare – Kōrero at the Unions Wellington Labour Day panel”
The year of the strike is a year like no other
Grant Brookes 1 October 2025 “The year of the strike? Perfect pay storm looms over public sector.” This was the headline of an article back in February by a prescient Stuff journalist. This perfect storm has arrived, though it’s about much more than pay. Under conditions of today’s unprecedented political mobilisations, and an increasingly authoritarian government which has thrustContinue reading “The year of the strike is a year like no other”
Grant Brookes | Nurse & Trade Unionist 