The Standard

workers’ rights

Categories under workers’ rights

Labour Day: the working class and civil emergencies

Written By: - Date published: 6:06 am, October 27th, 2025 - 17 comments

On this Labour Day, a massive shout out to all the workers in Southland, Otago and other areas affected by the storms last week. Paid and volunteer, obvious and those in the background doing support for the frontline workers.

Stuff’s Lloyd Burr infers striking workers are puppets

Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, October 24th, 2025 - 11 comments

Burr unironically asks: “Politics or pay – what’s really behind the mega strike?” without understanding all action is political, and that unions are made up of individual workers who vote

Judith Collins’ Open Letter Is Dirty Politics

Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, October 19th, 2025 - 15 comments

The senior National Party Cabinet Minister has penned an “Open letter to the people of New Zealand” on the New Zealand Government’s official website

Simeon Brown threatens doctors as mega strike looms

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, October 19th, 2025 - 5 comments

An exodus of professionals are leaving – with Kiwi citizens fleeing at levels we haven’t seen in 24 years. These incl. community GPs, doctors & nurses – and Simeon is going after those that remain

Hayek’s Acolytes and History’s Judgement

Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, October 18th, 2025 - 44 comments

While we should acknowledge Jim Bolger’s life of service to New Zealand we should also recognise the critical and continuing damage done to New Zealand by his government.

Van Velden pressures ERA to reduce worker compensation payments

Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, August 23rd, 2025 - 16 comments

Brooke Van Velden has announced the appointment of four new members to the Employment Relations Authority and has expressed the wish that compensation payments to workers will be reduced.

No mandate for this

Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, August 21st, 2025 - 22 comments

Partial strike law penalties used on nurses trying to keep themselves safe is emblematic of the wider libertarian playbook within the NZ government

How was National able to take down construction so quickly?

Written By: - Date published: 7:51 pm, August 15th, 2025 - 67 comments

Industry experts say Chris Bishop and his party are to blame, but Bishop denies it, saying construction industry leaders are just “wrong”

Was it Luxon’s idea to cancel pay equity claims under urgency?

Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, August 2nd, 2025 - 5 comments

A recent dump of papers relating to the cancellation of the Pay Equity scheme suggest that Christopher Luxon was the primary driver behind the decision to do this under urgency.

The ultimate Fuck you, to your neighbours, the community and the environment. Private helicopters!

Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, July 18th, 2025 - 12 comments

Again, we were woken up by a bunch of hoodrats drifting on the intersection by our house. Great clouds of smoke and lots of noise. As you do at three o clock in the morning, my brain started tying this together with recent articles about private helicopters in urban areas, and other forms of antisocial “Fuck You’s” to the rest of us.

Work will not be so safe

Written By: - Date published: 3:01 pm, June 4th, 2025 - 11 comments

Brooke Van Velden has announced changes to Workplace safety laws that will see prosecutions of Employers decrease but prosecutions of workers start.

Migration: the spectre at the feast

Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, May 28th, 2025 - 26 comments

The challenge posed by migration pressures is real and often underestimated. They are greater today than ever before in modern history.

The Peoples’ Select Committee on Pay Equity

Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, May 28th, 2025 - 8 comments

In very bad news for the Government former National MP Marilyn Waring has announced that she will be doing something the Government did not do, organise hearings to consider the Government’s sabotaging of Pay Equity.

Our growing stress is everywhere

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, May 24th, 2025 - 22 comments

We don’t know where this country is going and it’s getting worse. 

The Coalition Continues to Defund Science

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, May 18th, 2025 - 6 comments

Another science fund bites the dust in New Zealand.

Louisa Wall – This Is Not Feminism – It’s Fiscal Evasion Dressed in Lipstick

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, May 15th, 2025 - 24 comments

Louisa Wall eviscerates Government claims about pay equity.

Get ready for the Regulatory Standards Bill

Written By: - Date published: 10:47 am, May 11th, 2025 - 24 comments

Following on from the undermining under urgency of the current Pay Equity scheme the Government intends to introduce the Regulatory Standards Bill which if passed would have a significant adverse effect on collective rights and environmental action.

The beginning of the end

Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, May 10th, 2025 - 58 comments

When the history of the sixth National Government is written I am confident that the events of this week when the Pay Equity system was smashed up will be described as the the beginning of the end.

Lies damned lies and Pay Equity Repeal excuses

Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, May 7th, 2025 - 27 comments

Christopher Luxon yesterday tried to claim that budgetary considerations were not the reason for repealing the Pay Equity Legislation even though David Seymour had said that the monetary savings from the bill would save the Budget.

The Greens’ Industrial Strategy: Green Jobs Guarantee and Ministry of Green Works

Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, May 1st, 2025 - 39 comments

New Zealanders should be in control of our economy, our jobs and our future. We don’t need to leave our fate to be decided by international shareholders

Winston’s war on wokeness

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, March 25th, 2025 - 41 comments

In what looked like an early election campaign launch Winston Peters has done his old man shaking his fist at the sky tirade against everything woke.

Reasons for Optimism

Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, March 22nd, 2025 - 14 comments

We’re good, but we know we want better leadership.

NZ Science is in Big Trouble

Written By: - Date published: 5:36 pm, March 13th, 2025 - 12 comments

Science and tertiary education are being ignored in NZ, which is just dumb.

Going for poverty: National’s new procurement rules

Written By: - Date published: 6:51 am, March 13th, 2025 - 35 comments

Nicola Willis is picking a fight with unions and environmental groups by proposing changes to Government procurement rules that would do away with environmentally beneficial policies and the requirement to pay the living wage.

Climate change?

Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, March 10th, 2025 - 101 comments

Chris Hipkins has released his priorities should he be Prime Minister. They do not include addressing climate change.

Repaired RSS feed highlights minister’s failing portfolios

Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, February 24th, 2025 - 1 comment

Last week, I pointed out that Internal Affairs under Act Minister Brooke van Velden, had managed to lose RSS communications from the Beehive to the world. It’d been offline for about three weeks at that point. That was just sloppy and incompetent for the DIA who amongst other things are responsible for overseeing government technology services.

Good as gold

Written By: - Date published: 3:44 pm, February 22nd, 2025 - 19 comments

A fascinating expose from Michael Hudson on the causes and implications of the recent rise in the price of gold. When Nixon took the US dollar off the standard in 1971 you could get an ounce for $35. Not now; Hudson explains why.

Most kiwis blame Willis for Ferry Fiasco

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, January 30th, 2025 - 9 comments

Recent polling suggests that two thirds of kiwis disagree with Nicola Willis’s decision to cancel the replacement Inter Island ferries contract.

America would never happen here!

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, January 22nd, 2025 - 42 comments

Why corporate fascism may no longer be a distant dream – and how it’s closer than you might think

President Biden’s Accomplishments

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, January 11th, 2025 - 33 comments

It’s common these days to see the rapid 2024 exit of multiple global social democrat leaders as just a post-COVID symptom of democratic impatience. But Biden achieved far more than his age-related decline obscures.

2024 in review

Written By: - Date published: 11:01 am, December 31st, 2024 - 25 comments

It is that time of year when during the brief hiatus of civilisation known as the holidays we get the time to reflect on what has happened over the past 12 months.