Telecom and the logic of capitalism
There’s nothing like a Tory Government in power and a monopolistic corporate flexing its muscle to remind you that capitalism is all about […]
Economy
workers’ rights
Who do you think you’re fooling, Kate?
“I’m not going to resign” – Kate Wilkinson It’s one of the truisms of politics that when you’re a minister and you say […]
Collins’ smear backfires
Excellent piece by Patrick Gower in the Herald today on Judith Collins’ attempt to smear Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon. Collins has leaked […]
NDU catches govt lying
This morning the National Distribution Union put out a statement saying the Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson, had refused to attend an executive […]
Don’t look for help from the bosses’ party
Red Alert continues to get better and better. Beaumont’s latest is one of those powerful stories that deserves to be told, and Red […]
Fisking Farrar
I don’t know what it is about the word “Labour” that the right finds so hard to understand. David Farrar has a piece […]
More than just a job
Recently, Bill English has been trying to make excuses for not doing anything about the spiralling numbers of unemployed. He says that the […]
Telecom’s profits first, NZ second
You’ve heard about the Telecom dispute. But while a lot of the focus has been on what it means for the lines engineers […]
Recreating the reserve army of labour
Unemployment has shot up to 133,500, nearly doubling in 18 months. But that’s not the whole story. The official ‘unemployed’ are only the […]
New union blog
Service & Food Workers Union national secretary John Ryall has a new blog. His first post takes aim at the claim by Ngai […]
Kate’s CEO talkfest
The Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson, is holding a meeting today with 25 top CEOs on the number of New Zealanders who are […]
Big issues in Telecom lines strike
It’s great to see all the lines engineers standing up to Telecom’s attempt to strip away their employment rights and turn them into […]
Unemployment back to English’s ‘realistic’ level
Who said this? “if we continue with National’s policies over the next three years we will be able to create another 115,000 jobs […]
A real recession policy
Darien Fenton’s minimum redundancy bill has been drawn from the ballot and is likely to go before the house in the next two […]
Unemployment hits 6%
Stats NZ has just released the unemployment figures for the June Quarter. Unemployment has hit 6%. That’s 138,000 people out of work. We’re […]
Less work, less pay for Kiwis
Today the Household Labour Force Survey, which includes the official measure of unemployment, will be out. The headline number is expected to be […]
Good potential, will it deliver?
17,000 youth jobs. That’s what Key has promised with a $152 million programme (some of this is existing money). Like Colin Espiner says […]
Get ready for more over-promise, under-deliver
Tomorrow John Key will be announcing policies on youth unemployment. Looks like rehashing of the already announced Youth Guarantee and probably something more. […]
Nice try, Roger
Sir Roger Douglas has a go at my post that looks at the GDP per person gap between Australia and New Zealand and concludes […]
What they’re really playing at
Business Roundtable chair Rob McLeod has a piece in today’s Dom Post motivating the case for amending anti-discrimination laws to allow “affirmative action” […]
More facts on the table
Now, yesterday a couple of righties didn’t want to believe the evidence in front of their eyes that the GDP per person gap […]
Show-pony
Y’know, as John Key tries to get stuck into Phil Goff, I think it’s time for a quick recall of recent history. Key […]
Phil, get your shit together
Phil Goff. Please get your shit together. This latest fiasco of running up a guy who owns several properties as a case of […]
New union blog
Public Sector Eye. A new blog from the PSA written by the union’s two national secretaries, Brenda Pilott and Richard Wagstaff. Finsec’s been […]
Matariki Public Holiday?
The Maori Party’s Matariki Day Bill was pulled in the ballot. Man, a public holiday in the middle of winter. Currently it’s one […]
It’s not fair, get over it, get it right
The ludicrous attacks by the media on Goff over the dole scheme show that this is not an even playing field. Key is […]
Good jab, now land some punches
It was excellent to see Phil Goff laying down the gauntlet to Key yesterday. He announced Labour’s policy to temporarily relax partner means […]
Recession’s ‘rough edges’ hit families – no help from govt
Labour leader Phil Goff has called for a temporary relaxation of the rules for getting the dole. Too many Kiwis on low and […]
Key grins blankly, shrugs shoulders
I was going to do a fisking of Key’s ‘major speech‘ today. But there’s nothing to fisk, no substance, no ideas, no vision. […]
Fire at Will: abuses, no new jobs
The Key Government decided not to monitor the implementation of its Fire at Will law. It probably feared embarrassment. Fortunately, the EMA and CTU have […]
Nats can NOHSAC
One of the most fundamental rights at work is the right to come home at the end of the day healthy and safe. […]
The danger of Key’s low wage economy
As you know, things are tough in the job market at the moment. The firm figures won’t be out until later this month […]
Good news for care workers
It’s good news that carers for people with intellectual disabilities are getting more recognition. A court decision has found that sleep-over shifts are […]
‘Frontline’ cut for phantom savings
MAF Biosecurity is set to cut 60 jobs – 30 of them filled. It claims the fall in imports means it’s over budget […]
Fran pumping Brash for productivity taskforce
A few weeks ago the NZPA reported that the Government had agreed to establish a taskforce to “work on ways to close the […]
Robert Reid to lead NDU
As has been expected for some time, the National Distribution Union has announced that its President, Robert Reid, will be taking over as […]