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workers’ rights

Categories under workers’ rights

Andrew Little: the future of work

Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, December 1st, 2014 - 98 comments

The text of a speech delivered by Andrew Little this morning

Tip of the iceberg

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, November 23rd, 2014 - 99 comments

Looks like exploiting petrol station workers by docking their pay for circumstances beyond their control was just the tip of the iceberg of this kind of behaviour.

’81: knowing your position

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, November 22nd, 2014 - 103 comments

Andrea Vance has written an informative article about Andrew Little.  In it, among other things, we learn that Little remembers exactly which side he was on during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour.

Labour and the unions

Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, November 19th, 2014 - 109 comments

In which I ponder my 2c on the leadership race, and the path ahead for Labour and the unions…

The casualisation of work

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, November 14th, 2014 - 147 comments

Zero hour contracts, where an employee’s work hours are determined solely at the whim of the employer, are becoming increasingly common. The implications for the fight against poverty are dire.

Lessons from the ’30s and 40’s: culture and the left

Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, November 10th, 2014 - 70 comments

We often look to the first Labour Government for core left wing values, & a political way forward.  As well as massively restructuring of the NZ economy, work, welfare & housing, that Government aimed to restructure NZ culture & to combat capitalist-dominated popular culture.

“Marching in the streets”

Written By: - Date published: 5:15 pm, November 8th, 2014 - 129 comments

Thousands of people protested and marched around the country against the secret and anti-democratic TPPA negotiations. Reports & pics. Updated

NRT: Betrayal at Pike River

Written By: - Date published: 4:09 pm, November 6th, 2014 - 80 comments

I/S at No Right Turn on the Pike River decision.

EEO Commissioner blasts employment law changes

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, November 1st, 2014 - 43 comments

Workers have lost the statutory right to meal breaks and smokos. Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Commissioner Jackie Blue – who happens to be an ex Nat MP – pulls no punches in setting out the consequences.

Dairy Workers back Andrew Little

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, October 29th, 2014 - 35 comments

The Dairy Workers Union has officially endorsed Andrew Little’s bid for the Labour leadership.

Distractify

Written By: - Date published: 7:07 am, October 29th, 2014 - 28 comments

While shepherding through horrendous housing changes and removing workers’ rights – and hiding from Dirty Politics – John Key needs a big “look over there!”

Emmerson – The bloodsucker’s treat

Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, October 28th, 2014 - 6 comments

emmerson-employment

National losing the middle?

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, October 28th, 2014 - 133 comments

In its first term, National was very careful to be incremental – Key hung to the middle, chipping away carefully at workers’ rights without doing anything dramatic. Having gained the public’s trust by continuing (outside the House) to be a clown they’d like to have a drink with, they went with one big hit with […]

Save our tea breaks

Written By: - Date published: 7:49 am, October 27th, 2014 - 60 comments

Labour hopes to collect signatures for this petition over Labour Weekend…

Labour day – thank a unionist

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, October 27th, 2014 - 72 comments

Today is a day to celebrate the rights hard won by workers and unions, past and present. There’s a reason it’s called “Labour Day” not “Free Market Day”…

Collective bargaining? Yeah right …

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, October 26th, 2014 - 11 comments

JAmooches continues their analysis of the effects of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill. Today the focus is on the provisions that negate the requirement for the parties to act in good faith bargaining, in particular for being able to conclude collective agreements.

Auckland Labour Day Event

Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, October 24th, 2014 - 14 comments

The Mangere Labour Electorate Committee is planning an interesting event on Labour Day in Auckland to commemorate the contributions of three different people to the Labour movement.

Save our tea breaks

Written By: - Date published: 2:50 pm, October 23rd, 2014 - 97 comments

EPMU endorses Andrew Little for Labour leader

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, October 20th, 2014 - 67 comments

The EPMU have just announced they’re endorsing Andrew Little for Labour leader.

The power & the pressure

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, October 14th, 2014 - 115 comments

We need a new green left direction, now and for the future.  A future Labour-Green-Mana coalition government could provide such a direction.  The original NZ Values Party Manifesto provides an important Blueprint.

Hickey on the living wage

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, October 12th, 2014 - 22 comments

Excellent piece by Bernard Hickey in The Herald this morning.

ANZ staff striking

Written By: - Date published: 2:31 pm, October 10th, 2014 - 24 comments

All the best to the ANZ staff who are on strike today.

Unaffordable housing & the culture of greed

Written By: - Date published: 11:17 am, October 4th, 2014 - 47 comments

Rental housing remains unaffordable for many.  The problem is the greed of investors & speculators,  supported by a culture in which housing investment is seen as a way to individual prosperity.

Hello National, bye bye breaks …

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, September 28th, 2014 - 53 comments

Our guest poster has a look at the Employment relations Amendment Bill that National will attempt to sneak through during Labour’s leadership primary. This bill is clearly targeted at those employees who are most vulnerable. It reinforces the Nat’s slow and steady but effective chipping away of employee’s rights and will really resonate with its core constituency

The lurch to the right begins

Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, September 22nd, 2014 - 129 comments

Expect to see a lot of drastic rightwing policies this term as John Key redefines the term “centre ground.”

My morning thoughts on the night before

Written By: - Date published: 9:20 am, September 21st, 2014 - 34 comments

It will take a flax roots, bottom-up, community-based movement to rebuild democracy and a fair, caring and sustainable society.

The tweets are alive….

Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, September 19th, 2014 - 5 comments

… with pre-election day fervour. It’s an election that’s going down to the wire.  The energy is there for the left to keep talking to people, and to encourage as many as possible to get out and vote. It’s Suffrage Day – reporting via the telegraph in 1893 to the internet today. On-going updates

The email

Written By: - Date published: 2:57 pm, September 15th, 2014 - 143 comments

The email that alleges to show John key was in on a conspiracy, with Hollywood execs, to entrap Dotcom in NZ so they could extradite him to the US. Updated. Warners say the email is fake. But who was applying the “political pressure”? Updated: Cameron Slater is a techno idiot.

The only way National know to grow the economy

Written By: - Date published: 5:15 pm, September 10th, 2014 - 19 comments

On Firstline this morning, John Key tried to compare National’s and Labour’s policies by saying “You can’t grow the economy when you restrict labour laws.” It’s nonsense, and it’s scary.

Condolences: safety at work

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, September 1st, 2014 - 76 comments

My condolences to those close to the victims of the horrific actions in Ashburton today.

Parker nails English on economic policy

Written By: - Date published: 2:25 pm, August 25th, 2014 - 32 comments

Labour has the bold set of policies to take New Zealand forward into the 21st century – National’s “same old same old” tinkering will see the Kiwi skiff swamped. That was the clear conclusion from the debate between David Parker and Bill English on National Radio this morning.