Mission accomplished
John Key famously said “we would love to see wages drop“. It sure didn’t take him long in government to see his ambition achieved. […]
workers' rights
wages
Fyfe’s model for the future
Despite four days of strike action and growing public outrage over Air New Zealand’s treatment of its Zeal320 flight attendants, CEO Rob Fyfe […]
Bosses ‘using recession’ to squeeze staff
Well that didn’t take long. Bosses ‘using recession’ to squeeze staff: Bosses being accused of using the recession to exploit workers by driving […]
Zeal320 strike underway
Zeal320 workers are on strike for four days from today. Ads in every major newspaper explain what they are fighting for – the […]
School support staff fighting for a fair deal
Cut public spending then we can have tax cuts! It’s such a nice, appealing slogan when you say it fast without engaging the […]
Strike at MIT
Members of the Tertiary Education Union at the Manukau Institute of Technology are striking. A TEU member explains the dispute: Basically lecturers at […]
Solution
Keeping with the topics of the day thus far – Air New Zealand and pay packets – a solution to the Zeal320 dispute occurs […]
High quality government spending
I suppose the Herald means for us to recoil in horror at the headline “$325,000 bill to save 57 jobs” but I’m fine […]
Workers stand up to exploitative bosses
Head of the Unite union, Matt McCarten, writes about the Synovate lockout and how foreign-owned businesses try to exploit New Zealand workers: [The] […]
Key on wages
Key’s speech to the CTU today showed an interesting inight into how he thinks you lift wages. NZPA reports: He said it was […]
Bennett’s lame excuse
Morning Report asked Paula Bennett why the public sector had been cut out of the 9 day fortnight scheme this morning and her […]
Brief thoughts on the 9 day fortnight
The 9 day fortnight scheme has finally been announced but I’ve got a few questions: Why do the taxpayer and the worker have […]
Govt set to deny low-paid workers basic rights
The National government couldn’t hold off democracy forever, so today we are graced with the first members’ day of the new term. And […]
National’s real rolling maul
You know what we haven’t heard Key talk about in a long time? Closing the wage gap with Australia. Now he’s in power, is […]
Previewing the jobs summit
Tomorrow, John Key’s much anticipated jobs summit will take place. It’s a big deal, it’s got a logo and everything. Unfortunately, John seems […]
Being stupid on the economy
Brian Fallow has some extraordinarily good analysis of the economic situation in his piece today. Here’s some important passages (and my, unfortunately, extensive […]
Minimum wage rise a small but important victory for the Left
Great, through concerted pressure the Left managed to force a 9-cent an hour real increase in the minimum wage from National/ACT. A 9 cent an […]
More than words
I see the Maori Party has come out saying the increase in the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour isn’t enough, and that […]
Who cares if it’s just PR?
There is a rumour in the Dom Post and the Herald that the minimum wage will be announced today and the Nats are […]
Does raising the minimum wage really hurt employment?
National’s excuse for illegally* failing to complete the annual review of the minimum wage is that it wants to ensure any increase doesn’t […]
Splits and divisions on minimum wage
So Cabinet has deferred its decision on the minimum with John Key simply promising “it won’t be very far away at all”. Now […]
The Standard wager
Today, Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson will be presenting a paper to her Cabinet colleagues regarding the minimum wage. The Department of Labour recommended […]
Biz NZ opposes minimum wage increase
As we reported on Monday, the Cabinet is set to review the minimum wage. The Labour Department recommended maintaining its purchasing power by […]
Wage for minimum wage workers set to drop
In the Bay Report in December 2007, John Key was quoted as saying “we would love to see wages drop“. Inexplicably, the media […]
A pointless symbolic distraction. At best.
I’m the last person who’d criticise freezing the pay of our MPs but John Key’s cynical opportunism is at best a piece of […]
Key delivers a Christmas kicking for workers
We always said that a National/ACT government would be anti-worker but I’m surprised by how blatant they are being about it. In a […]
Be pragmatic
A fundamental of social democratic politics is full employment. It is sometimes said that work is the best form of welfare. When people […]
Credit where it’s due
It’s exam season for high school students. So, for 10 points explain how the following statement (in the ACT-National agreement and repeated uncritically […]
How to stimulate the economy
During the debate over the economic stimulus package in the US earlier this year, Moody’s produced a model that shows which stimulus options […]
Economy healthier than expected
The latest government accounts show the economy is in better condition than was expected. Tax take was $500 million higher than expected due […]
Hypocrite
Watching Key tour Progressive Enterprises today was bad enough but watching him claim to support those workers in the leaders debate was sickening […]
Wages still growing strongly
Despite the recession, wages have continued to grow at a record rate and, crucially, faster than inflation. The average hourly rate was up […]
Tories’ crack at socialism a poor substitute
National’s redundancy package would effectively continue Working for Families payments for some people who would otherwise lose them after redunancy. Only people who […]
Ripping the stuffing out
The CTU has released a second great youtube vid. Well worth a watch and emailing around.
Labour’s labour policy good for labourers
Labour has unveiled its work rights policy, and it’s a good one: – minimum wage increases at least at the rate of inflation […]
