The State of the Working Class in Aotearoa: A Crisis of Capitalist Exploitation

The Mood of the Workforce survey, conducted annually by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, lays bare the brutal reality of life under capitalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. The 2025 report exposes deepening inequality, systemic exploitation, and widespread dissatisfaction across key areas of life—work, housing, taxation, healthcare, and governance. The findings reveal a class war waged from above, where workers bear the brunt of austerity, overwork, and economic insecurity while the ruling elite consolidates its wealth and power. For AWSM (Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement), this report reinforces the urgency of direct action, grassroots solidarity, and the fight for a world beyond capitalism. The crises facing workers are not incidental—they are features of a system designed to serve the wealthy at the expense of the many.

Overwork and Understaffing: A Strategy of Profit Extraction A key theme in the survey is the intensification of work without corresponding increases in staffing or wages. Workers describe increased workloads due to hiring freezes, job cuts, and restructuring, all designed to maximise employer profits while pushing workers to the brink of exhaustion. The government’s underfunding of public services and the private sector’s obsession with cost-cutting have resulted in rampant burnout, declining morale, and worsening mental health.

“Workload has got to the point of overwhelming.” “Non-replacement of staff due to government funding cuts has put increasing pressure on those remaining.”

This is not an accident. It is a deliberate strategy of capitalist exploitation—more work extracted from fewer people while profits accumulate at the top. It mirrors the global neoliberal trend of making labour precarious, forcing workers to compete in a low-wage, high-demand environment that benefits the ruling class. The capitalist class, represented by employers and the state, has made it clear that they have no interest in protecting workers’ well-being. This results in a race to the bottom, where workers are expected to be grateful just to have a job, despite worsening conditions.

Job Security and Redundancies: Precarity as a Tool of Control The increasing instability of employment is a key concern among respondents. Mass layoffs, outsourcing, and restructuring have left many workers fearful for their futures. A sense of walking on eggshells pervades the workforce, with employees feeling disposable and undervalued. Public sector workers, in particular, have faced an aggressive assault on their job security, with funding cuts forcing them into constant cycles of uncertainty and burnout.

For AWSM, this highlights the structural function of precarity under capitalism. When workers are insecure, they are less likely to challenge authority, demand better wages, or push for improved conditions. This is a deliberate strategy to keep workers compliant and dependent on the system. The only way out of this cycle is through solidarity, mutual aid, and the establishment of worker-controlled structures that prioritise collective well-being over capitalist profit motives.

Management and Corporate Control: The Tyranny of the Boss Class Survey responses expose a toxic power dynamic between workers and management. Decisions affecting livelihoods are made without consultation, communication is non-existent, and Human Resources (HR) functions as an enforcer of austerity, not a supporter of workers. Many workers feel their voices are ignored, and management structures prioritise efficiency and cost-cutting over human well-being.

“People have left or been ‘optimised’ and are not being replaced. The amount of work is increased and we are expected to do more for no increased income.” “As a public servant, I feel much less valued and my job security feels more tenuous.”

This is capitalism in action: a hierarchical system where workers are disposable and management rules with unchecked authority. In the anarcho-communist society we envisage, workplaces would be run cooperatively and democratically, ensuring that those who produce the wealth have control over their own labour conditions.

Housing: A Rigged System That Keeps the Working Class DownThe survey confirms what working-class communities already know: housing in Aotearoa is a crisis deliberately created by capitalist policies. Respondents highlight:

Unaffordable house prices and rents The destructive role of investors and landlords Exploitative rental conditions and tenant insecurity The impact of government policies that favour property speculation

Housing has been transformed into a commodity rather than a fundamental human right. Landlords extract wealth from workers through rents that increase far beyond wage growth. Respondents report being forced to stay in unhealthy, unsafe housing or being subjected to random evictions whenever landlords decide to cash in on the housing market. The anger in the report is justified. Housing should be socialised and controlled by communities, not by landlords and speculators. The only solution to the crisis is abolishing the landlord class and transitioning to cooperative, collectively owned housing models that remove profit motives from shelter.

“My landlord lost his tax breaks, so he put the rent up by $50 per week. When the government restored them, he put it up another $50 per week. I think it tells a story.” “We have a 70-year-old friend living in our garage because it’s too expensive to live alone.”

Taxation: The Redistribution Lie The survey exposes how Aotearoa’s tax system protects the wealthy and punishes the working class. Respondents overwhelmingly support a capital gains tax, wealth taxes, and progressive taxation, yet governments—Labour or National—have refused to implement them. Key grievances include:

No capital gains tax on property means landlords accumulate wealth tax-free. Inheritance laws allow generational wealth to concentrate. Wage earners pay significantly more tax than corporate elites.

“It is indefensible that someone earning $50,000 per year pays tax while someone who sells a $1m property pays none.”

Anarcho-communists go beyond simply demanding a fairer tax system. Taxation under capitalism functions as a tool of state control and wealth redistribution within the system itself, rather than as a mechanism for real economic justice. A truly just system would eliminate wealth accumulation through abolition of private property, expropriation of corporate wealth, and collectivisation of essential resources.

Healthcare: Privatisation and Neglect

Complaints include: Waiting lists for essential procedures stretch beyond a year. GP visits and medication are unaffordable. Rural communities face even worse neglect.

The capitalist state is systematically underfunding public health care, forcing people into for-profit alternatives while ensuring that only the wealthy have access to high-quality medical treatment. The logic of capitalism dictates that health care should be treated as a business opportunity rather than a universal right.

“I forgo seeing a doctor because GP visits are too expensive and my medication is not subsidised.” “My sister in Australia got treatment a week after diagnosis. My niece in Levin had to wait six weeks just for a consultation.”

Privatisation is not just creeping in—it is being forced upon us by design. We demand a public, community-driven healthcare system where treatment is a human right, not a commodity.

Government and Leadership: A State in Service of Capital Survey respondents overwhelmingly reject the current government, describing it as corrupt, out of touch, and serving the interests of the wealthy over the people. They highlighted:

Cuts to public services while offering tax breaks to the rich. Failure to address the cost of living crisis. Rollback of workers’ rights and environmental protections. Perceived corruption and cronyism Austerity policies that harm the working class A lack of representation for workers and marginalised groups The destruction of public services for private gain

“This is a government for the rich. Workers’ rights are being decimated while tax relief is given to the wealthy.” “Our public services are being gutted in real time while the government blames workers for the failures of capitalism.”

The state is not a neutral body; it is the enforcer of capitalist interests. A system that serves landlords, corporations, and private interests cannot be reformed—it must be dismantled. This disillusionment with the political system should be viewed as an opportunity for anti-capitalist organising. When people see that the state serves the interests of the wealthy, they become more open to direct action, community organising, and self-determination outside of government structures.

Electoral politics will not provide solutions. The state, whether controlled by conservatives or liberals, will always prioritise the capitalist class. Real change will only come from direct worker control, grassroots resistance, and the dismantling of hierarchical power structures.

A Vision for Worker-Led Revolution The survey captures the growing class consciousness among Aotearoa’s workers. From job insecurity to unaffordable housing and the erosion of public services, it is clear that the system is designed to benefit a wealthy minority at the expense of everyone else. People recognise that capitalism is failing them, yet mainstream solutions—electoral reform, state-led policies—will not fix what is fundamentally broken.

What Comes Next?

Challenge the legitimacy of the state and capital Union Radicalisation – Unions must move beyond bargaining and demand direct worker control of industries. Tenant Strikes & Housing Cooperatives – Renters must collectively refuse exploitation and reclaim housing. Mutual Aid & Worker Solidarity – Communities must self-organise healthcare, food systems, and housing, bypassing the state and capital. Abolition of Wage Labour & Capitalist Ownership – Workplaces must be collectivised, owned by those who labour in them.

The Mood of the Workforce report is not just a list of complaints—it is a call to arms. The people of Aotearoa are waking up to the failures of the system. The question is no longer if change is needed, but how far we are willing to go to seize it.

Build the New World Now We do not need permission from capitalists or politicians to reclaim what is ours. Now is the time to act, organise, and dismantle the structures of exploitation that keep us trapped. The solution lies not in the ballot box, but in direct action, worker-led struggle, and the creation of a system based on human need, not profit. – a world based on solidarity, equality, and communal self-governance.

Abolish capitalism. Build Anarchism The time to act is now. https://awsm4u.noblogs.org/post/2025/02/06/the-state-of-the-working-class-in-aotearoa-a-crisis-of-capitalist-exploitation/

AOTEAROA WORKERS SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT

aotearoa_anarchism@riseup.net

6.2.25

© Scoop Media