Big business demands to pillage state
Fran O’Sullivan runs up some more big business proposals today unsubtly reminding Key that big business, which put up the cash to get […]
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Labour stands up for ACC
So – Labour have stood up for ACC. Bravo! History repeats. In the last year of the last National government (1999) they flogged […]
Management: clueless
Saw this article on Stuff yesterday: Employers and employees have dramatically different opinions of why workers remain in their jobs, says research released […]
National announces ACC privatisation
National is going to privatise ACC. As part of the deal for support on its ACC cuts and levy hikes from the Maori […]
Wee gripes: As Kiwi as shrimps on the barbie
I love the ASB ads saying “We’ve been a Kiwi bank since 1847” No. You were a Kiwi bank. Since 1989 you’ve been […]
Reflections on the ERA
There’s been a fair bit of coverage of John Key’s use of the CTU conference to divide and rule over wages and announce […]
Govt tax advisor told Westpac how to cheat on taxes
John Shewan is a member of the Government’s Tax Working Group. A decade ago he was advising Westpac what minimal amount of tax […]
Key’s divide and rule to cut wages
John Key says that if school support staff want pay-rises then teachers should sacrifice the ones they bargained for. Tell him to get […]
Turia on ACC
Here’s Tariana Turia on Q&A last Sunday, responding to a question from Guyon Espiner about National’s plans for ACC: I’m very concerned and […]
Labour Day, a time to celebrate
Next Monday, you have a paid day off. Do you know why? Because workers organised themselves into unions and fought for better pay and […]
Maori Party supports foreign business over working Maori
It is a reflection of the schizophrenic nature of the Maori Party that one day they’re professing to care about poor Maori who […]
The invisible hand gets frisky
EMA busts another privatisation myth
When asked to explain why they want to start privatising a world-leading institution like ACC, National and ACT tend to fall back on […]
Another day, another sell-out
The Maori Party has decided it will support National’s changes to ACC despite Tariana Turia just two days ago saying she was “very […]
ACC fracas ‘truly dumb’
Tim Hazledine, a professor of economics at the University of Auckland, has a nice piece in the Herald today that lays out just […]
Take a stand Phil
John Dalley makes a good point in the comments section of our last ACC post: About now would be a good time for […]
Big bucks for Aussie insurers in ACC privatisation
It seems certain National will begin the privatisation of ACC starting with opening the work account to private competition. As happened in 1998, […]
ACC protests send clear message to NACT
Today hundreds of people around the country marched against the cuts to sexual abuse counselling due to be implemented by ACC next week. […]
Told you so: Right pushes ACC privatisation
Last Thursday, Colin Espiner was mocking all of us who said that National and other rightwing groups were trying to create a sense […]
Smith still lying with numbers
Last week, David Parker asked Nick Smith what the “whole-of-life cost to ACC of all new claims” for the last year were. Smith’s […]
Woodhouse: ACC not in crisis
A fascinating interview with the Sir Owen Woodhouse in the Herald today. Sir Owen has led an amazing life – after helping supply Yugoslav partisans […]
Protests against cuts to sexual abuse cover
[Pulling the following comment from Toad in Open Mike up to the front page.] If you are in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin […]
Hospital workers protest National’s wage freeze
Hundreds of hospitals workers from all over the country took protest action against National’s wage freeze today. Here’s a photo from the picket […]
ACC a good investor
The other day, John Key said “ACC’s investment portfolio had not been working well”. Now, if there’s one golden rule regarding people with […]
It’s called politics, Colin
Colin, I think we need to discuss your work: the conspiracy theory peddled by Labour and the EPMU (i.e. Labour) that somehow this […]
Fiasco after fiasco
It seems National has a problem with numbers. First they fudge the numbers for ACC so they can claim a “blow out” and […]
So what was phase one?
Funny thing, I woke up this morning and thought to myself “what happened to the cycleway?” I was even going to put a […]
Spin-busting: ACC rises and cuts
The Herald’s editorial today largely reads like it was written by Nick Smith and John Judge, so let’s use it as the basis […]
Nick Smith plays dumb
Answering the question you wish you were asked rather than the one you were is a common PR tactic (to a point) when […]
The Independent on National’s ACC agenda
Very good editorial on ACC in The Independent today. The article’s offline, but it’s quite clear about why the Government is trying to […]
Parliament pay dispute just the start
Non-political staff Parliamentary Service are in industrial action. They want to keep their redundancy provisions that were bargained for years ago and get […]
March against ACC cuts
From October 27th, survivors of sexual violence will only be eligible for ACC funded counselling if they are first diagnosed with a mental […]
Poor managers hurting NZ
What a sad state the management workforce of this country is in. Just think about these recent stories: Open Country, locking out their workers, […]
The PSA-SFWU non-merger
Farrar’s published what he calls an ‘internal union email’ about the PSA and the SFWU’s decision not to amalgamate. Considering it was sent […]
Oldest trick in the book
How do you get someone to change their mind about something they like? Simple, find one negative element to it (nothing is perfect) […]
NZ Bus spins as 5pm deadline passes
The front page leads on Herald and Stuff report: NZ Bus will lift its lockout notice and resume services on Thursday morning “as a […]