Bananas!
Kiwis are amongst the highest consumers of bananas per capita in the world but for decades the banana industry has had a record […]
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Bollard raises OCR, notes weak recovery
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard has lifted the official cash rate from 2.75 to 3 per cent, while expressing concerns about the weakness of New Zealand’s economic recovery.
Wage gap $40 a week wider under Nats
Closing the wage gap with Australia was one of National’s key promises in the leadup to the 2008 election, but the Dom Post reports today that the wage gap has grown by another $40 a week under National’s watch.
Can we stop pretending now that National ever really had a plan to close the wage gap?
The original justification or no justification at all?
During the election the National Party packaged up its policies so as not to scare voters. The 90 day probationary period was for two specific reasons. It was targeted toward people on the margins of the employment market and only applicable to small businesses. Either the original justifications still hold true, hence undermining any argument to extend the scheme, or the original justifications were rubbish from the very start.
Workers and Dear John
National is making a total mess of industrial relations. Two different news items yesterday tell the same story: the unions are angry, and the PPTA teachers are angry. Nats beware. Nice Mr Key could so quickly become Dear John…
Where’s their evidence?
National wants to make a change, they’ve got to make a powerful case that the change will have the results they claim. So where’s their evidence? Where are the models, the studies, the scenarios? They haven’t got any. This is faith-based government. Based on faith in the neo-liberal god. This is guess based government. The guess being that we’ll keep voting for that Nice Man Mr Key.
The underclass
Remember when John Key used to talk about the “underclass”. Much recently of course John Key’s policy direction has been more about pandering to the wealthy elite, so you don’t hear so much from John Key about his concerns for the underclass anymore. But worries about the underclass still concern some people.
Another win for union members
The Herald reports that Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union members have won the right to a substitute holiday to make up for the fact that Anzac Day and Easter Monday fall on the same day this year as well as a three percent pay rise for this year and another next year.
You read that right, at a time when the government is attacking workers rights two thousand EPMU members are increasing their holidays and getting a pay rise.
A few brief points about the attacks on workers
Having just watched the q + a interview with Council of Trade Unions President Helen Kelly and Alasdair Thompson from the EPMA (a must-watch, Kelly did a great job) I think there are a few things that need to be said:
A closer look: National’s Energy Strategy
No Right Turn had an interesting post on National’s Energy Strategy or more correctly a general lack of it yesterday.
Yesterday the government released its Draft New Zealand Energy Strategy [PDF] for consultation. So, how does it compare with Labour’s 2007 version? The difference is easy to spot. Labour’s energy strategy was about shifting to a sustainable, low-emissions energy infrastructure. National’s is about finding oil.
Why Socialism? – Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein’s essay “Why Socialism?”, originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949).
Retirement age
Brash’s call for a “flexible pension” is the thin end of the wedge leading to a rise in the age of eligibility for super. At the moment National are rejecting his call, as Key would be obliged to resign if the age is raised. But the problem remains. National have weakened Labour’s Cullen fund and KiwiSaver, and they seem to have no ideas of their own…
Unusual uncertainty heralds an uncertain new world
Despite a textbook response by the world’s major governments to the great recession, US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the outlook remains ‘unusually uncertain’. The economic players can’t understand why the normal strong recovery hasn’t followed the recession. They don’t understand we have reached the limits to growth.
Brownlee’s power reforms hurt national interest
We’ve seen the last minute back down on mining after tens of thousands of Kiwis stood up, we’re seeing a growing tide of anger as Kiwis realise that all our work rights and wages are for the chop.. but one policy that has avoided public criticism on the level it is getting from within the industry is Gerry Brownlee’s mad electricity reforms.
Empty promises on employment law
National’s promises aren’t worth the paper that they’re printed on. They’ve broken plenty and downgraded most of the rest to “aspirational goals”. Now John Key’s current anti-worker employment policies add a whole new chapter to the list of broken election promises.
Caption contest
Remember the billboards comparing Helen Clark to a series of dictators in 2008? Funny thing is she’d never had anything to do with a dictator. But at least one MP who will be voting for John Key’s attacks on workers did.
A new state housing agenda
The country is short about 10,000 houses and many of the houses we do have (mostly privately owned rentals) are unhealthy. The housing shortage was a driver of the last housing boom and is still keeping house prices excessively high, while poor quality housing means higher health costs, more sick days, and kids that are sick so often it disrupts their education. It would be sensible on every level to build the extra houses we need, and the government should take the lead role.
Where is National’s economic plan?
It became increasingly clear this year that National’s longer-term economic plan, such as they had one, could be summed up as “tax cuts and miningâ€.
With mining in national parks now out of the picture, just what is National’s plan to grow the economy and lift our wages to Australian levels?
The changing excuses for Fire at Will
In the 2008 election campaign, National carefully packaged up its policies in such a manner as not to scare voters. One of the policies John Key was very careful to frame was the 90 day probationary period for new workers, rightly called Fire at Will. This removal of rights for working people, he explained to us, was for two specific reasons. It was targeted toward people on the margins of the employment market and only applicable to small businesses (less than 20 workers).
Key caught out again on 90 day law
Good to see John Key’s lies over the 90 day fire at will law are starting to catch up with him. An employment specialist has come out contradicting Key’s smug assurances that even though his fire at will law will explicitly remove our right to even be given a reason why we’re getting the sack, somehow good faith provisions would still require the employer the give one.
Key lies about sick leave
No Right Turn has a good post pointing out that John Key’s petty fascism on sick leave is already covered by the law. An employer can demand a worker provide a medical certificate after one day’s sick leave. All Key’s law change will do is remove the requirement for our employers to behave reasonably when we’re sick.
The price of trade
The textbooks tell us that free trade is good because it means a more efficient use of resources. But the reality is that often the ‘competitive advantage’ one country has in producing a product compared to others isn’t some natural resource or better legal or physical infrastructure that makes business more efficient. Too often, the cheapest countries are the cheapest because they pay their workers the least and don’t protect their environment.
Key, Unions and Pinochet
Over at Kiwipolitico Pablo has a good post tracing the ancestry of Key’s attack on unions to Pinochet.
Not that we should be surprised of course:
National and Act have both been influenced by that regime in the past. Especially when it comes to dealing to workers.
This isn’t about growth, it’s class war
Does John Key have any evidence or official advice to back up his claim that taking away workers’ rights to basic fairness and natural justice promotes growth? Will Kiwi workers be as a result of taking away our job security and bargaining power?
Natonomics and Fire at Will
Extending Fire at Will and attacking union access to worksites undermines workers’ rights and is simply economic vandalism. Weaker work rights will tend to lead to lower wages (already falling under John Key’s watch), low wages lead to underinvestment and poor economic performance, and lack of work rights increases the risk in changing jobs making labour allocation less efficient.
Key’s desperate spin
Key’s trying to spin his way out of taking responsibility for his attack on workers.
And he thinks union-bashing is the way to do it.
Perhaps he needs reminding that unions are just groups of workers who’re working together for a fair deal?
Crash National’s party update
Word is numbers at the protest are up to 500. Not bad for a protest organised in a couple of days. According to […]
It’s different when it’s your job
It was mainly young and poor workers on the minimum wage who were its victims of Fire at Will before. But now the middle class’s jobs will be on the knife edge too and they’re not happy. This will be an issue that causes National to bleed votes, especially if Labour and the unions organise a strong campaign. Middle NZ doesn’t care about poor workers but it’s different when it’s your job at risk.
National’s donation spin
National is claiming its donations are strong but the numbers tell another story all together.
With an election possible within 12 months, National needs to scare up some cash – and quick.
Financial regulation in USA
The recent global recession represented a spectacular failure of unfettered capitalism. We never felt the full force and completeness of that failure because the worst was averted – or rather just delayed – by vast injections of Government bailout money. America has learned its lesson, yesterday passing the strictest restrictions on banks and Wall Street since the Great Depression.
Key’s dilemma
This weekend Key will start (literally) cashing in his political capital by trading off Kiwi workers’ rights for business backing.
But by pushing for these changes his backers risk the second-term National majority they need to get their hands on our assets.
It seems their bad habit of putting short-term profit ahead of long-term sustainable gains has carried over into the political sphere.
Crash National’s Party – Protest for Fairness at Work
At the National Party conference in Auckland this weekend, John Key is expected to announce drastic attacks on workers’ rights.
You can stand up and fight back against this madness by joining the protest at 10am on Sunday at Sky City Hotel in Auckland.
Brash blows budget on 2025 taskforce
I wonder if Dr Brash thought close scrutiny would have faded once he left the political limelight? He certainly sounds entirely comfortable with […]
National’s attack on working Kiwis
With National’s donations flagging something was needed to loosen the purse-strings.
It seems they’ve decided giving business an early present of wage-lowering laws will do the trick.
And every working Kiwi will pay the price.
PM punts for growth
Prime Minister John Key today conceded that growth remains too weak, unemployment is too high, and that it is unacceptable that workers’ wages are going backwards when he promised they would match Australia’s in just 15 years. Speaking to a rapturous crowd of schoolchildren and journalists, Key announced a bold new economic agenda.
Just who does Business NZ represent?
Business New Zealand CEO Phil O’Reilly has come out against Clare Curran’s procurement bill despite the fact procurement legislation would benefit his members.
It makes you wonder just who exactly Business lobby groups represent.