John Minto: Workers Charter fundraising to survive

Left-wing publication The Workers Charter is fundraising to survive.

Editor John Minto said the paper was well on its way to raising the $15,000 required. It had received $9500 since appealing for help in early February.

The monthly paper, established late 2005, generates income through about 350 subscriptions and a small number of donations. Mr Minto said it did not sell advertising but might consider it, if it was consistent with the philosophy of the paper.

Mr Minto said the Workers Charter addressed many issues, but “we look at workers issues and definitely prioritise workers struggles.”

It was pro-active in voicing the concerns of low-income people, and had significant ties to Unite Union.

The paper had struggled because of the high cost of producing a newspaper.

“We are a small publication, but would like to get bigger. If we manage to break even, then that’s good.”

“We have considered going online, and it is a real possibility, but we could have issues with maintaining a website, and we don’t want to start something we can’t sustain.

“The other issue is that we cater for low-paid workers, and these people are predominantly not on the internet,” he said.

It was looking at establishing an initiative whereby people of a low socio-economic demographic could contribute more easily to the paper.

“We would like workers to be writing articles themselves, which has happened a bit, but we are looking at running a course for people who want to write for the paper, and building up some more skills.”

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