Ports of Auckland – time for change
Auckland Council has released the Ports of Auckland Independent Health and Safety Report and the recommendations are damning.
Economy
workers’ rights
Doocey is taking the piss
Private member’s bills are an important feature of Parliament. They give all MPs the chance to change the law to address real or perceived issues and problems. So what does National MP Matt Doocey think is the country’s most pressing problem?
So! You want a “plan”?
Expecting a bit much aren’t you? We haven’t had that since Muldoon. At least he had them. The kind of people now asking for a plan were those who complained about governments that “interfered with the sacred ‘free market’” and screamed about “central planning”, “picking winners”, “protectionism” etc. They prefer just getting cheap labour to give the illusion of economic growth. And build a cycleway!
Managed isolation cleaners should be paid a living wage
Managed isolation facility cleaners, who the country desperately relies on, are struggling to survive on low wages while performing an absolutely vital role.
How can NZ incomes be lifted to match housing costs?
Not a vague let’s raise wages and benefits explanation, but an in-depth, number crunching, evidence-driven explanation. Where is it?
COVID19 Vaccine and New Zealand’s K-Shaped Recovery
IF the discovery of a potential Covid vaccine looks like a new dawn, let’s not forget that this is the accelerating point of the K-shaped recovery New Zealand have been dreading. Our already rich are on the line heading upwards. They are getting richer because of a range of our Government policies.
Labour day
Enjoying your weekend? Thank a unionist!
NZ election 2020: Labour win is a watershed moment in the country’s history
The 2020 election was more than just a victory for Labour and more than a crushing defeat for the National Party (New Zealand’s main centre-right political party). This result marks a significant watershed in New Zealand politics which will likely have implications long after this parliamentary term.
Vote Labour To Support Your Job
This is a backpocket election – and that’s where most of Labour’s effort is going as it rightly should.
Greens: expanding living wage beyond public service with Fair Pay Agreements
The Green Party welcome Labour’s commitment to extend the living wage to Government contractors, but will push for Fair Pay Agreements across industries in the next Government so more New Zealanders can earn a dignified income.
Grant Robertson’s crisis leadership
Much has rightly been made of the leadership quality of Prime Minister Ardern this year. But the PREFU results announced today shows that Minister of FInance Grant Robertson is by a long way the most effective Minister of Finance we have had since Dr Michael Cullen.
Checkpoint shroud-waving over Queensland politics?
Today’s Checkpoint descended into shroud-waving in the case of a New South Wales family not able to visit their dying father in Queensland because of the strict border closure. As our health officials note, “bereavement issues” are where most care is needed to prevent the virus spread.
Who are you going to trust with your job, Jacinda or Judith?
Defying expectations official labour force data from Stats NZ released today shows that the unemployment rate dropped to 4 per cent from 4.2 per cent in the June quarter.
Trade Unionism: Does it have a future
There is no blueprint for building a stronger more effective trade union movement. There are many, who each and every day wake up and do exactly that.
The Greens are thinking ahead
The Greens have released a detailed policy document that sets out what they want to achieve if they are part of the next Government and their Labour Relations policies could be considered to be more pro union than Labour’s policies.
Another Nat MP Quits
Another Tory MP has quit. This time it’s first term MP Andrew Falloon.
UPDATE: The PM was informed on Friday, but chose to be discreet.
UPDATE: NewsHub are claiming that Falloon sent porn to a schoolgirl.
UPDATE: The victim was a uni student and her age means no offence was committed. Further, Falloon claims it was not him that sent the pic.
Auckland Central; Should Chloe Swarbrick Stand Aside?
The Auckland Central electorate will elect a new MP in September. The Greens have a responsibility to make sure it’s the Labour candidate.
Union peak bodies: a beacon of hope for all workers
My view is that neither big nor small unions function particularly well in the modern-day workforce. There are many notable exceptions to this where both do very good work. But few have found the balance of good local support for members, tackling national and international issues and crucially not wasting considerable time and resource fighting another rival union encroaching on their patch.
Local Government: crucial and undervalued
On the day of the council vote, we organised for the effected Citi-Ops workers to sit in the public gallery in the Council rooms wearing their High Viz’s and work gear. I was one of three speakers for the union, expressing opposition to axing these jobs. The Council debated the issue for about 30 minutes. Those councillors in favour of making the workers redundant argued that they should not interfere with management decisions. Those against the decision felt that management did not have the mandate to make this decision. The vote ended up being 7-7, so Green Party Mayor Celia Wade-Brown used her casting vote to uphold management’s decision to outsource these workers jobs. The Citi Operations staff were sitting in the room, so Celia and the councillors were looking at these workers as they made them redundant.
Wellington buses now: how a local authority harmed public transport
Sure to form, Paul Swain along with Regional Council Chair and another former Labour MP Fran Wilde proposed tearing down the trolleybus wire and increasing the city’s carbon emission. This was to then promptly followed by re-tendering all the bus routes having redesigned all the bus network so that bus companies could then compete over routes and undercut each other. At one council meeting in mid-2016 Swain was questioned about the possibility of protecting drivers jobs and employment conditions. After a few questions, he lost patience, slammed in hand on the table and ended the meeting. This was the extent to which Swain and the Greater Wellington Regional Council considered supporting bus drivers during this process.
National wants to open up our borders, unless you are Indian, Pakistani or Korean
National Backbench MP Hamish Walker has claimed that Queenstown is to be invaded by people from India, Pakistan and Korea when the reality is the Government is considering using empty Hotels for quarantining returning kiwis.
The 2008 Go Wellington Bus Lockout
20 days after being elected President of the Wellington Tramways and Public Passenger Transport Employees Union (we just called it Tramways), drivers at Go Wellington were locked out. The City nearly ground to a halt with thousands unable to get to work and traffic congestion a nightmare. Certain journalists were quick to call this a communist conspiracy.
Fixing Unemployment – Zoom meetup Saturday 10am
Is it time to completely rethink how we deal with unemployment? We face a tsunami of job losses not seen in generations. Two ideas — social insurance and a job guarantee — are gaining prominence as ways to change how we deal with the problem. One provides income protection for those who lose employment, the other aims for something bolder: the elimination of unemployment. All welcome; register here.
Responsible politics verses Gotcha politics
Michael Woodhouse has recently had a difficult ethical dilemma. He received information suggesting that there were major weaknesses in the Covid quarantine system. Should he do the responsible thing and point out these weaknesses to the authorities or should he play Gotcha politics?
Kim Hill asked “Why…
…is the US sharemarket roaring away – up 44% – while economic recovery prospects are grim?” ANZ’s Sharon Zollner’s answer on Tuesday was the Fed printing money, but worried markets were turning a blind eye to the bad news. The bad news hit today as the sharemarket nose-dived. Wolf Richter’s answer was more to Kim’s point: “Fed bails out the wealthy while America convulses in pain.”
Guest Post – Industrial Democracy for Air New Zealand?
To assist with the emergence from the Covid19 crisis it is time to build firms like Air New Zealand into social institutions of democracy, accountable to citizens and not subject to a takeover by the private interests of capital.
Is National Just Inconsistent or Incompetent?
National’s new job-creation scheme appears to be inconsistent with their desire to fully re-instate the 90-day trial period.
What has the Government ever done for business?
Borrowing heavily from Monty Python’s Life of Brian Labour MP Deborah Russell sets out what the Government is doing for small business in these Covid 19 times.
Most leaders of the opposition are unemployed, they just don’t know it yet
Holy hyperbole. Todd Muller has claimed that most kiwis are unemployed although they do not realise it yet. Although in one case he may not be wrong …
New leadership same old tactics
National has released a social media ad suggesting that New Zealand’s per head of population Government debt figure will be worse than Greece’s by 2014. But the data used presumes the effects of Covid 19 in New Zealand’s figure but no effects of Covid 19 in Greece’s figure.
Two Tier. Bull. Shit.
I thought we were “in this together” or some such?
Work ideas
Jacinda Ardern has floated the idea of a four day working week and Grant Robertson wants to change the future of work. Maybe they should get on and do it.
The International investigation into Covid-19
More than 110 nations have backed a call for the World Health Organisation to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 virus outbreak.
Oh Sweden
Just when we thought liberal democracies meant real freedom was an absolute written into human rights stone, by mid-March this year almost all OECD countries had implemented the most draconian reversal of lockdowns on every single human to combat Covid19. Except Sweden. How is it working out?
Jacinda is not like Muldoon
National has decided to play politics with Covid 19 and is opposing the Government’s attempt to pass legislation to secure level 2 arrangements. And has made the extraordinary claim that Jacinda Ardern is just like Rob Muldoon but with slogans.
Bloomfield and the empire strikes back
Dr Ashley Bloomfield has responded to allegations by Simon Bridges that the government has suspended the Official Information Act and the Emergency Response Committee has made multiple requests for information from the Ministry that it is waiting for by advising publicly there are no outstanding requests for information.