Urgent action needed on job creation
We’ve talked a lot about the negative effects of unemployment on the unemployed and their communities (depression, crime, family breakup, poor health, poor […]
Economy
workers’ rights
Wages fall, except for union members
The Labour Cost Index tells us that most workers this year failed to get pay rises to match inflation in the past year. […]
Farrar vs the facts
I’ve never quite understood why David Farrar, who is after all paid to do statistical work, insists on performing transparent statistical tricks on […]
Unemployment up, productivity up
Like here in New Zealand, unemployment continues to climb in America. And one of the results is soaring productivity. (sources: 1,2) But wait, […]
McCarten on capitalism
Matt McCarten’s Herald column this week is a call for every working New Zealander to go and see Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love […]
16,000 more jobs lost
The number of employed people fell from 2,170,000 to 2,154,000 in the three months to September*. There are 54,000 fewer people in jobs […]
The horror of low wages
The Unite Halloween-themed $15 minimum wage march went well yesterday. Looks like there were a fair number of people there. Pity there’s no […]
Exchange rates, Kiwisaver, breaking promises, & the art of doing nothing
A range of interesting political/economic comment today in the Herald: Fran O’Sullivan joins the left-wing and groups like Federated Farmers in calling on […]
CTU Alternative Economic Strategy
If you watched the media coverage of last week’s Council of Trade Unions conference you’ll have walked away thinking it was about John […]
$15 min wage march tonight
The Campaign for a Living Wage will be taking to the streets of Auckland’s CBD tonight to demand a minimum wage of 15 […]
$15 minimum wage, it’s only fair
The campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage is gathering pace. Initially, Unite kind of set out on their own on this […]
Examples of rest break exploitation
Over at Kiwiblog, David Farrar is doing his usual apologetics for National by trying to spin its removal of guaranteed rest and meal […]
Get back to work!
The reprieve from the rain may have been the only thing worth celebrating this Labour Day. Probably pissed that there isn’t a holiday […]
National wants to take a break – yours
You’ll have seen in the paper that National is going to legislate, most likely under urgency, to let employers deny workers the right […]
Just ‘cos it’s Labour day
Credit where it’s due.
Aussie Minister shows guts, foresight and concern; ours… not so much
Australia’s Federal Industry Minister Kim Carr has criticized Bridgestone’s closure of its Australian and New Zealand operations and the 1000 redundancies it’ll bring. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Paula, honestly, put away the champagne
So, in the week to October 2, 1950 people signed up to the dole and 2040 went off it. Time to celebrate according […]
ARC threatens to terminate NZ Bus contract
ARC chairman Mike Lee has delivered a blunt ultimatum to NZ Bus as its lockout of drivers reaches day five. “We have had […]
The Bridgeman Concrete lockout ends successfully
The Bridgeman Concrete workers locked out for nine days hardened their picket last week. Two concrete trucks couldn’t leave the depo, costing the company $3,000 […]
Photos from the Auckland bus driver lockout
Some photos from the Auckland bus driver lockout. The drivers showed up to the depots today to demonstrate they were willing to work, […]
Labour needs to get beside the workers
You know, if you look back to all the elections since 1957, there’s only three you would say the Left lost outright – […]
Infratil / NZ Bus striking for more profits
Well the intransigent owners and managers of Infratil / NZ Bus finally went on strike this morning in their quest for higher profits. […]
Bus drivers solidarity picket – Wgtn
There’s a solidarity picket tomorrow outside Infratil’s HQ in Wellington to support the locked out Auckland bus drivers. If you’ve got a moment […]
Drivers locked out for following their contracts
Yesterday, around 1,000 bus drivers and support staff issued noticed to their employer, NZ Bus owned by Infratil, that from Thursday they would […]
Parliamentary staff begin industrial action
Low-level industrial action has begun at Parliament after workers rejected an offer from the employer that would have slashed redundancy provisions and kept […]
Put away the champagne, Paula
Paula Bennett: “The number of people needing an Unemployment Benefit has slowed significantly over the last month, says the Minister for Social Development […]
School support staff fight National’s pay freeze
From the NZEI. Great to see the low paid mobilise so effectively.
Industrial roundup: Open Country
Last week the Employment Court decided that Talleys-owned Open Country was acting illegally in locking out its unionised staff. The Court upheld the […]