Swan to build surplus as economic stabiliser
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan has announced that he intends to lift the target for the budget surplus, so that fiscal policy can help […]
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Key conjures up cuts
John Key tells us that he would cut ‘wasteful government spending’ to pay for upper-bracket tax cuts bigger than Labour’s cuts. But do […]
Rich call for tax cuts for rich
Four associations representing wealthy New Zealanders are saying tax cuts should be in the form of making the top tax rate 30 cents […]
Say chee$e
At the supermarket earlier this week I was browsing the aisles and noticed the price of cheese. It seems now that for a […]
Solution to wage-gap in hands of business
Larger (but still small) numbers of kiwis are leaving for Australia and higher incomes are part of the attraction. At the same time […]
Cullen puts tax cuts in context
In a speech today to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce Cullen has further differentiated the role of tax cuts under National and Labour. […]
Unemployment at record low (again)
From Stuff: Growing numbers of women in the workforce pushed New Zealand’s unemployment rate down to a new record of 3.4 per cent […]
Tax cuts and the wage gap
News that 28,000 New Zealanders left for Australia last year has Business NZ, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Party predictably calling […]
EMA resorts to making stuff up
The Employers and Manufacturers Association has a new employment survey out today that aims to portray personal grievances as “way out of hand” […]
Damned if you do…
The Herald has an interesting article about shift work posted today pointing out the impact shift work has on workers’ families. The article […]
National disses minimum wage
National’s comments on the minimum wage show a party that has no answers on how to close the wage gap with Australia. Just […]
Possible $1.5b in tax cuts in 2008
From Stuff: Cullen said “uncertainties” still existed, but Treasury had “significantly” lifted its revenue forecasts which meant the $1.5b in tax cuts in […]
Minimum wage rises good for workers
Reports suggest that the government is set to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour. Coming toward the start of 2008, this […]
Progress on new superunion
The NZ Herald reports the Service and Food Workers Union, the National Distribution Union and Unite have agreed in principle to merge into […]
Entitleme.com – tax comparisons
From the site: “The only two universal truths. Death and Taxes. Entitleme is an effort to deduce an individuals effective tax rate. The […]
National and the wage gap
I see National’s complaining about the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia again. As usual they have no answers on what to […]
Petty politicking and the Xinyao tragedy
Reuters reports that the death toll from China’s Xinyao mine tragedy has now surpassed the 100 mark after 50 rescue workers were sent […]
Prats in the Nats on China’s miners
How’s this for small-minded prejudice from National Party backbencher Kate Wilkinson in a press release today complaining about the $84,000 dollars for a […]
Laila on unions
Laila Harre’s Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture is now available in full over at Scoop. It’s titled Union Relevance in Aotearoa in the 21st […]
National’s hoax on unemployed workers
Last week Stats NZ announced unemployment had dropped to a record low of just 3.5%, after reaching double-digit figures under National in the […]
2008’s big issue?
An interesting piece in yesterday’s Molesworth and Featherston (off line): Labour will pick a fight over workplace law reform. Trevor Mallard is in […]
But what about wages?
NZCTU economist Peter Conway makes a good point about National’s spin in his latest Economic Bulletin. After highlighting the shonky statistics behind the […]
Labour: who’s gonna get it?
Coming into an election when work rights is going to be a major issue, we’ve heard Ruth Dyson will be relinquishing her labour […]
What have the unions ever done for us?
(Hat tip: Robert Owen – via comments)
National: it’s not worth the pay cut
The National Party are clearly worried. They’ve done pretty well so far with the populist rallying cry of tax cuts, but they always […]
First woman CTU president
Congratulations to Helen Kelly, the first woman to lead the Council of Trade Unions. Helen replaces Ross Wilson, who’s been CTU President since […]
Aussie workers worse off under Howard
A new report (PDF) by the University of Sydney shows Aussie workers are doing markedly worse under a Howard government. His desperate bid […]
Overtaxed?
There’s a lot of talk on the right about the surplus being evidence of ‘overtaxation’. But where exactly is the Government’s huge tax […]
National’s cynical attack on disabled workers
History tells us the Nats will use any excuse they can to undermine people’s work rights, but this is low even for them. […]
Port strike
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the Ports of Auckland have been ground to a halt by strike action from 250 members of the […]
NDU, SFWU and Unite to form super-union
I was wondering when this was going to break. From Molesworth and Featherston this morning (offline, subscription only): Two private-sector unions are poised […]
Subway cheese conspiracy
Some of you might remember an incident at Subway in Dunedin earlier this year. A young woman who worked there was fired in […]
Unite ends youth rates at McDonalds
Congratulations to Unite for ending youth rates at McDonalds. Not that you’ll get that story from the media coverage, which gives the impression […]
Fairer pay for youth workers
The Herald has the story: Workers aged 16 and 17 will earn the adult minimum wage once they have been in the job […]
He’s whatever you want him to be – except if you’re a worker
John Key’s swallowed a lot of rats to make National look electable: nuclear free, war in Iraq, fighter jets, paid parental leave, climate […]
Stood up, fought back
The National Distribution Union‘s put a together a bit of a clip showing some of the struggles its members have been through over […]