Are the Vultures Already Circling Above?
We cannot go back to business as usual after the lockdown but can we shape the way things will be for the greater good?
workers' rights
wages
Holding the Government to Account or Concern Trolling?
When Opposition Spokespersons behave like concern trolls, we have a problem.
What the Government has done for beneficiaries
In Parliament this week Carmel Sepuloni outlined action being taken by the Government to implement the recommendations of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group designed to improve the plight of beneficiaries.
UBI: what is it good for?
Please don’t let economists, lefties, the right, or TOP design a UBI until we start talking about bolting welfare on. Here’s why.
National’s big economic policy announcement
Simon Bridges has claimed that the average wage earner in the country pays almost 33c in the dollar in taxes. Spoiler alert, they do not.
Labour raise the minimum wage
“Around a quarter of million workers will be better off next year”
Why unions won’t give up on Fair Pay Agreements
The CTU has launched a campaign to raise awareness about a discussion paper released by the Government on fair pay agreements amongst media comment that government support may not be secure.
What happened to Hisco?
Stuff has published details of a sweetheart deal where David Hisco bought the ANZ owned property they were living in for a greatly reduced price. But was this good investigative work or a leak from within ANZ?
Results matter
Everyone knows that getting employers to increase rates of pay and improve conditions of work takes real pressure and the only real way working people can exert pressure, in the unbalanced relationship that exists between individual employees and employers, is by acting together; collectively. And that’s what we’ve been doing week in, week out and getting real results.
The Teachers’ strike
Teaching is approaching a crisis point. Sure it has taken 9 years of the last Government’s rule to wreck the system. But this Government is expected to repair quickly the damage that the last Government caused.
May Day
Press release from the NZCTU celebrating May day and noting imminent changes to employment laws.
The benefits of a Labour led Government
Today marks the day that the largest ever increase in the minimum wage will occur.
Herald and Du Plessis-Allan present compelling argument in favour of industry wide bargaining
Heather Du Plessis-Allan has written as compelling an article in favour of the the Government’s proposed industry wide negotiations as you could ever think possible.
Westpac becomes accredited living wage employer
Westpac Bank has agreed to become an accredited living wage employer which means that its contractors as well as its staff are to be paid a living wage.
Fair Pay Agreements
The Working Group on Wage Bargaining reform has reported back. Good news for the working poor, bad news for the filthy rich.
Mood of the workforce shows urgent need for change
The CTU has released the results of its recent cost of living and income survey. The results suggest that urgent change is needed.
The Air New Zealand Industrial dispute
Air New Zealand has provoked industrial action from its workers by trying to wind back wages and conditions at a time it is making near record profits.
Child poverty reduction
It’s likely that Labour’s new Child Poverty Reduction Bill will get through its third reading by the end of this year.
Go Bus Lockout; Hypocrites Ngai Tahu and Tainui Screw Workers
Ngai Tahu and Tainui remind us that they like exploiting working people as much as the next capitalist. They’ve locked out their Waikato bus drivers for asking to be paid the Living Wage.
Business NZ runs bogus poll
Business NZ has admitted that a poll that it ran was fundamentally flawed but has threatened to go to the ILO about Labour’s rather modest proposed changes to Industrial Relations law. And Radio New Zealand has reported on an industrial dispute involving Sistema plastics where union workers are working 60 hour working weeks without overtime pay on not much more than the minimum wage.
Guest post – Breast is best
It is high time we wean ourselves off the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels. We need to grow up.
Business confidence verses business certainty
Lately the news has been all doom and gloom about business confidence. But what is the reality? And should we worry what an Australian Bank is telling us?
Litigation and equal pay – a history of the 1950’s equal pay campaign
Forward In 2016 I wrote the below dissertation as part of my History Honours degree at Victoria University. This dissertation explores the 1950s […]
Is Matthew Hooton becoming a socialist?
Occasional Standard reader Matthew Hooton has written a cogent column on industrial relations in which he realises and accepts that wages for ordinary workers are too low.
The teachers’ strike
Teachers have indicated they will also be seeking a significant catch up in salaries and job conditions after a decade of neglect.
Families Package and Auckland Regional Fuel tax kick in
Labour’s Family Package and the Auckland Regional Fuel tax have both kicked in.
Arses and Elbows
Deserving workers and undeserving workers in the public service.
updated
Shock horror, National is telling fibs about Labour’s Industrial Relations policy
National has claimed that Jacinda Ardern ruled out national strikes during the last year’s election campaign. And has trimmed a video and taken comments out of context to justify its claim.
Jessica Williams tweets about the stupidity of the Taxpayer’s Union
Twitter in the right hands can be a very dangerous thing. As shown by Jessica Williams when she questioned the intellectual grunt of the taxpayers union in this series of tweets.
Government announces living wage to be paid to all core public servants
The Government has announced that all employees in the core public service will be paid a living wage from September 1, 2018.
Is it OK to bring a hand grenade to a business meeting?
Darien Fenton writes about Business New Zealand’s early approach to the Fair Pay panel.
Fair Pay Agreements – a no-brainer
Remember when you could pay a mortgage, keep the kitchen cupboard full, take the kids to the movies now and then, by working as a bus driver, a freezing worker, a journalist, or any number of other solid middle-Kiwi jobs? When a decent working life was a given…
Forward to the 70s
National thinks that getting back to full employment, having wages and conditions sufficient to allow a working family to live in decency on one full time wage, and home ownership rates of about 70% are a bad thing.
Comrade Simon supports Nurses Strike
For the first time possibly ever a National leader has supported the right of the rank and file to engage in industrial action to improve their living conditions.
Bridges believes in trickle down
Simon Bridges has committed the twin political sins of not only believing in trickle down but in publicly confirming his belief.
Squeeze
This is as good a year as it is going to get to squeeze your employer for a fair wage.