The Independent Taskforce on Workplace Safety finds the New Zealand workplace health and safety system is “not fit for purpose” and is an indictment of employer self-regulation. An average of 100 people die each year in New Zealand, and the Taskforce thinks National’s target of reducing workplace deaths by 25% by 2020 is modest – I think it means the government still doesn’t get it. One death at work is one too many – zero tolerance should be the policy.
I/S at No Right Turn on the Nats’ excuses and choices as they oppose the extension of paid parental leave.
Key said “we would love to see wages drop”. Sure enough National’s anti-worker employment Bill is designed to have that effect, as stated in a Cabinet briefing paper.
National’s Labour laws announced today have new sanctions on workers’ strikes: parties will have to provide notice of a strike, and employers will have a new right to fine workers for “partial strikes.” Also today the Herald’s Insider reports business reaction to Labour’s NZPower and invokes the threat of capital strike, posed as a threat to an elected government’s right to govern. If Simon Bridges wants to see fairness, then capital strikes by business should surely face the same constraints as worker strikes.
The changes announced today to employment law represent the most serious attack on the rights of working people to a fair go since […]
Pike River found guilty of breaches of health and safety, leading to the death of of 29 miners. The CTU is calling for law changes to make company directors responsible for their company’s negligence. And the NZ MSM coverage of the catastrophe immediately after it happened?
Bank profits are up again. A 10 per cent increase over the past three months it was announced yesterday. What we don’t often […]
The current direction of Key’s government, and the challenging circumstances of the 21st century create a need for urgent attention to the form of a new left politics; one that embraces the working class, trade union solidarity, gender, diversity & the emerging “precariat”.
As expected David Clark’s private member’s bill to “Mondayise” holidays passed its final reading this evening. The vote was 61 to 60 with National and ACT voting against.
Telecom’s $1.3 million a year CEO has announced a pay freeze. Says workers who don’t like it should quit. The rich fuck’s already sacked a thousand workers, now he thinks he can dictate the terms of employment contracts. I’ve got news for you, arsehole. Employment contracts are bargains between worker and employer, not diktats from rich dickheads.
The Court Martial of Flight Lieutenant Dan Pezaro by the NZ Defence Force is making me uneasy. The internal Court of Inquiry into […]
John Key’s government has been gradually dismantling NZ’s democratic processes. Various activities this week are a major part of a frightening shift: a Bill enabling mining conservation land; punitive social security Act; Key’s control over NZ’s “intelligence community”.
Yesterday more planks in the NAct raft amounting to major changes, were before the House. These undermine democracy, fairness, the security and rights of individuals, and increase hardship for those on low incomes. Ardern on Social Security. Cunliffe on child support, privacy breaches & trust.
Any day now the Government will announce more changes to the Employment Relations Act. These changes will drive down wages and undermine the […]
The Nats’ youth rate wages (“for when the ‘minimum’ wage just isn’t low enough”) come in to effect next month. Some of the big youth employers are making their intentions known. You may wish to vote with your wallet.
Hard to believe, but despite having a Green Party mayor the Wellington City Council is about to outsource work currently done by council […]
As you know, the Right says more money incentivises harder work. John Key felt he wasn’t working very hard when he first became PM on a net $250,000 a year, so he gave himself tax cuts and pay rises worth $100 a day. Just look at the results! But I’m confused: why’s he cutting our pay with youth wages, higher Kiwisaver, and higher student loan repayments?
A raft of Tory policies have been dismantling the British welfare state: bedroom tax, privatising the NHS: NZ’s NAct government is following the same pattern of slyly changing small things, adding up to major changes that are ultimately socially & economically destructive.
New figures show that the wage gap with Australia is still increasing. National has nothing to offer but useless policies and excuses, while the captains of industry trot out the old productivity lie again.
Opposition MPs (e.g. Ardern & Mathers) and Sue Bradford highlight that the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill destroys lives, furthers NAct’s elitist agenda, & is more propaganda than social security or job creation.
I am at the Governing Body meeting of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. The GB is the tripartite executive that governs the place. There are 33 union representatives on the GB and a fair few of them live in very dangerous circumstances because of their union activities in their home countries. Those we sit, eat and plan with may be arrested, jailed, tortured or killed when they get home.
I/S at No Right Turn on youth rates…
I “attended” a fascinating “town hall” meeting last week of artists from around the world in the Visual Special Effects sector. Ignited by […]
Bravo to TONZU, the first employers to sign up for the living wage for all its workers.
Forest Owners representative Sheldon Drummond suggested the union movement campaign around forestry safety was motivated by the “large un-unionised workforce” in forestry. In Sheldon’s mind this is clearly code for “bad motive”. Interviews with workers tell the story of their working lives, the long hours they are working and how safety issues are relegated when they are on the hill.. Fearing that if the article identifies them in any way there will be consequences – they are adamant that reprisal is a real risk. Sheldon sees none of this….
The NZ Forestry Sector is completely unmonitored – It is one of our most dangerous industries and no one seems to know what is going on. From my perspective it appears within officialdom and the Forest Owners themselves, no one really cares.
Emails released on the Standard today show that, during the Hobbit “dispute” the Government and others lied to the people of New Zealand to maintain a perception of a crisis.
It was a shameful moment in New Zealand’s political history.
The minimum wage should be at least $15 per hour. A living wage is estimated at $18.40 per hour. So what have the Nats done? Raised the minimum wage by $0.25 per hour to $13.75. It’s a derisory increase. Even their own supporters think so.
I’m a big fan of the Living Wage campaign. And I really liked the Herald’s series covering the launch week. But part of that coverage highlighted a big problem that I don’t think the Living Wage campaign will reach.
The CTU wants to raise awareness of the effect of market pressures on working conditions and workplace safety. What killed Ken Callow?
Unions have been under concerted attack for several decades. Though weakened, they still produce results for workers. NZ Teachers’ Unions act on sound research, aiming to provide a quality and fair education system for all Kiwis. Global federations are campaigning against anti-worker corporates, like DHL.
Don’t you love hearing the rich say the working poor can’t have more pay? The faux concern that higher wages cost jobs from the same people who support huge executive pay packets and tax cuts? If you really believed higher wages meant fewer jobs, you would cut the CEO’s pay in half, not dick around over a few dollars an hour for real workers.
Irony meters everywhere pegged their meters as Bill English accused some bosses of being “greedy”, and not paying their staff enough. Hey Double Dipton – those greedy bosses? – they’re just following your example…
For those of you who’ve missed it Colin Espiner is back on the NZ interwebz with a new Stuff blog, the (rather earthily titled) Bull-Dust. Colin was a bit of a pioneer of journalist blogging in New Zealand. He was, I believe, the first Gallery journalist to run a proper blog and certainly the first to get in amongst it in the comments sections.
The Living Wage Coalition has released the results of their research, calculating that a wage of $18.40 is needed for workers and their families to have a decent life and participate in society. About 40% of workers currently earn less. The pressure is now on bosses of businesses and public bodies to pay the living wage or explain why they deserve a decent life but their workers don’t.
