Minimum wage: what will it be?
The Government is set to announce its decision on the annual adjustment to the minimum wage today. So what’s it going to be? […]
Economy
workers’ rights
Campbell and Hooton on do nothing Key
I can’t work out how to embed audio alone, so here’s a YouTube of Andrew Campbell and Matthew Hooton on the Key Government. […]
250,000 jobless and counting
Massive jump in dole numbers – minister washes her hands
You may remember that late last year John Key, Bill English and Paula Bennett could hardly find the words to praise themselves for […]
The sharpest edge of the recession
“2500 people waited up to seven hours to apply for one of 150 jobs at a new South Auckland supermarket”* OK, maybe 16 […]
The lucky country: Aussie tax system more progressive than NZ’s
It fascinates me that in all this talk about ‘catching up with Australia’ via tax cuts, nobody bothers to look at the Aussie […]
Another benefit beat-up
The Key Government’s anti-beneficiary campaign continues. The latest is a beat-up on long-term beneficiaries. Apparently, 9 people have been on the dole for […]
‘3 strikes’, typical ‘Do Nothing’ Key policy
The ‘3 strikes’ policy is the kind of policy you put in place when you want to look tough on crime but you […]
Kiwis back fairer minimum wage
Traditionally, the minimum wage was set at around 60-67% of the average wage. During the Muldoon era and the 1990s, National let the minimum […]
Say what?
Statements made in Parliament last year, in chronological order: Hon BILL ENGLISH: They have been telling us that we should copy the Australian […]
Farrar tries to cover for do nothing govt, and fails
Phil Goff has picked up on the point I made yesterday: while unemployment is falling in Australia due to the $42 billion stimulus […]
Key on holiday
After all of the kerfuffle about Key’s long holidays I figure there’s not much for me to say about it but it’s worth […]
NZ closes the gap with Aussie
Well, I didn’t think it could done but it has been. National has been promising to close the gap with Australia, and damned […]
Govt: All workers to get same holidays as PM
Workers to get same holidays as PM Monday, 11/01/2010, 11:30pm Press release: New Zealand Government The Government will raise the minimum annual leave […]
The house that slavery built
There’s no denying that the Burj Khalifa is impressive. Not all that much short of a kilometre high, it’s easily the highest building […]
A fair pay-rise not unreasonable
An interesting piece on the SST yesterday: English has warned public servants such as teachers and nurses not to expect pay increases that […]
Back the Redundancy Protection Bill
While most Kiwis are getting ready for Christmas there are tens of thousands who will be having a hard time this holiday season […]
Looking tough, wasting money
So Paula Bennett wants to force people on the dole to reapply after a year. At best, it’s a waste of money by […]
Bennett disappointed by witch-hunt results
Earlier this year, Paula Bennett released the personal details of two women who get the DPB who had opposed her cancelling of a grant […]
The wage freeze is dripping
Over at FairDeal, NZEI have announced that the support staff in schools have managed to get a wage increase. The campaign by support […]
English’s big promises proven hollow
An extraordinary moment in Question Time as John Boscawen skewered National’s hollow promise to close the wage gap with Australia by 2025. Watch […]
Nats’ ‘stimulus’: $200K per job
National claims it created 2,300 jobs with its stimulus spending. Of course, most of this supposed stimulus was smoke and mirrors – re-announcing […]
Govt stimulus creates 2300 jobs
“Govt stimulus creates 2300 jobs” reads the headline! It’s a bit misleading though. A more accurate headline would have been – “Labour Govt […]
There is power in a union
About a month ago I used the Stats NZ Labour Cost Index to come up with the approximate distribution of payrises for unionised […]
Easter trading defeated (again)
A victory for New Zealand’s 270,000 retail workers and their families last night, with Parliament voting 62-59 to reject National MP Todd McClay’s […]
Goff attacks govt on wages
Check out Phil Goff’s general debate speech yesterday on In The House, a handy new site paid for by the Office of the […]
Excellent question
An excellent question from Labour yesterday, using some familiar numbers: Hon Annette King: When he was reusing ‘unreliable, highly volatile, and potentially misleading’ […]
Are you ‘really’ unemployed?
Governments use statistical tricks to lower the official unemployment rate. This fun video shows how many jobless people get swept under the carpet. […]
Summer’s arrival thanks to me – Key
John Key is still claiming credit for the drop in the number of people on the unemployment benefit that occurs every October and […]
Nats’ dismal record on jobs and benefits
In opposition, National claimed that Labour wasn’t really getting people off benefits, it was just moving them from unemployment benefit and ‘hiding’ them […]
Rally: Lift the freeze on low pay
Just a reminder, thousands of hospital support staff, school support staff and other low-paid public sector workers are rallying in 27 centres nationwide […]
Zero percent won’t pay the rent
If you can, get along to support the hospital support staff, the school support staff, and all the other low-paid public sector workers […]
It’s not spin, the govt told me
The Dompost reports: “The number of places available on a programme to get young people off the dole will be increased after the […]
It’s the seasons, stupid
Over the last week or so, I’ve heard John Key, Bill English, and Paula Bennett all make self-congratulatory references to the number of people […]
Laugh track
As Irish has already noted, Fran O’Sullivan has savaged John Key’s record on employment and said that Paula Bennett is “too busy puffing her own achievements […]
Softly, softly treatment for militant employers
The continuing wave of lockouts continues to go unremarked by the government, the opposition and the media. Over the past few months there […]