Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, October 8th, 2009 - 37 comments
You know, if you look back to all the elections since 1957, there’s only three you would say the Left lost outright – 1975, 1990, and 2008. In the Holyoake years, too much of the vote was being wasted on Left-leaning Social Credit, Muldoon lost 1978 and 1981 but got more seats, the country voted […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:28 am, October 8th, 2009 - 7 comments
Well the intransigent owners and managers of Infratil / NZ Bus finally went on strike this morning in their quest for higher profits. They locked out the bus drivers for threatening to abide by their contract. This is causing widespread chaos amongst other businesses as their employees are unable to get to work. We just dispatched […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:54 am, October 7th, 2009 - Comments Off on Bus drivers solidarity picket – Wgtn
There’s a solidarity picket tomorrow outside Infratil’s HQ in Wellington to support the locked out Auckland bus drivers. If you’ve got a moment in your lunch break head on over and support these workers against this latest example of New Zealand’s growing employer militancy. What: Auckland bus drivers solidarity picket. When: Thursday, October 8 (tomorrow) […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, October 6th, 2009 - 51 comments
Yesterday, around 1,000 bus drivers and support staff issued noticed to their employer, NZ Bus owned by Infratil, that from Thursday they would be working to rule in protest over the company’s unacceptable pay offer. Essentially, the company wants to combine several existing collective agreements by keeping the weakest elements of each. Sure, it’s offered […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:23 pm, October 5th, 2009 - 6 comments
Low-level industrial action has begun at Parliament after workers rejected an offer from the employer that would have slashed redundancy provisions and kept pay outside the collective, meaning wage cuts for the foreseeable future. The management is trying to please their political bosses by cutting wages and is looking at outsourcing the provision of security […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:42 pm, October 5th, 2009 - 40 comments
Paula Bennett: “The number of people needing an Unemployment Benefit has slowed significantly over the last month, says the Minister for Social Development and Employment.” Here, let me correct that for you: “The growth in the number of people needing an Unemployment Benefit has slowed over the last month but still increased by 1,500 or […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:32 pm, October 5th, 2009 - 3 comments
From the NZEI. Great to see the low paid mobilise so effectively.
Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, October 5th, 2009 - 4 comments
Last week the Employment Court decided that Talleys-owned Open Country was acting illegally in locking out its unionised staff. The Court upheld the right of workers to demand a collective agreement and stated it was illegal for the Talleys to lock them out rather than attempt collective negiotations. Despite this, the lockout continues and the […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:03 pm, October 5th, 2009 - 1 comment
Visionstream completed its takeover of the Auckland and Northland patch on Thursday and it’s now become clear that they’ve failed to meet the terms of their contract with Telecom as workers have continued to hold out despite being made redundant. The situation is just crazy. Because of Telecom’s mismanagement there are now hundreds of redundant […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, October 1st, 2009 - 29 comments
The Police statistics out today show the crime rate continues to follow the unemployment rate. With unemployment on the rise, so is crime. Recorded crimes per person leapt 2.8% in the June year, as unemployment climbed from 4% to 6%. It’s obviously not a coincidence. Crime is a symptom of a society in distress, the […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:54 am, September 30th, 2009 - 8 comments
The Talleys and National Party linked Open Country Cheese continues to show its contempt for the law as it attempts to break the Dairy Workers Union. You’ll be aware that Open Country laid down a six week lockout notice to try and force workers to leave the union. So far it hasn’t worked and on […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, September 30th, 2009 - 6 comments
If you’re in Wellington this Friday you might want to pop along to a quiz night fundraiser that Finsec and the NDU are running for the (illegally) locked out Open Country Cheese workers and the (now redundant) Telecom lines engineers. Details are: Time: 6pm Venue: Loaves and Fishes Hall (just across the road from Parliament) […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:38 am, September 28th, 2009 - 27 comments
While filling his own pockets with our money, Bill ‘Double Dipton’ English is threatening public sevants with a five-year pay freeze – with inflation, that’s a 10% pay cut. The government can afford to give its workers small cost of living adjustments – the cost is relatively trivial. Parliament workers recently rejected an offer that […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, September 25th, 2009 - 4 comments
Colin Espiner: “For some reason that I don’t quite understand, unemployment usually continues to rise at the end of recessions, and there’s normally a lag time of something like a year before it falls.” I can help with that one. When a down-turn starts, employers generally don’t know how bad or how long it will […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, September 25th, 2009 - 60 comments
Tau Henare has put a private members’ bill in the ballot that would require ballots by union members on strike action to be held in secret. Henare draws on his memories from the 1980s as a union organiser and reckons that open ballots are used to intimidate workers into toeing the line. Well, maybe it […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, September 23rd, 2009 - 68 comments
The Talleys-owned Open Country Cheese dispute took a new turn today after it was revealed that a senior manager, not content with just bullying workers, has assaulted one of them. Here’s what Giovanni Moana, the worker concerned, had to say: “I was told to put my head through a window in the packing room at […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, September 23rd, 2009 - 11 comments
Reader sent in this cartoon from the latest NZ Farmers Weekly. Things have got to be bad for Open Country when even the farming press is turning on them.
Written By: - Date published: 9:28 am, September 23rd, 2009 - 11 comments
It seems the trend of rewarding company bosses with extravagant pay rises regardless of performance isn’t limited to Telecom’s $7 million man, Paul Reynolds. The Dom Post reports the bosses of Contact and Skellerup have been given huge pay rises, despite both companies’ profits taking a dive in the last year. Contact’s managing director David […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:39 pm, September 22nd, 2009 - 15 comments
The Open Country Cheese dispute is getting nastier by the day. The workers began their eight-day strike last week. The Talley’s and National Party-linked company responded by bringing in strike-busters (farmers, apparently) to take the workers’ place, which is illegal. On Saturday, one of these untrained strike-breakers allowed polluted sludge from the factory to flow […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, September 21st, 2009 - Comments Off on Talking union
Eddie’s piece on the importance of joining your union if you want to avoid a pay cut reminded me of another Peter Seeger classic:
Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, September 21st, 2009 - 42 comments
Right now, spurred on by the hypocritical words of Bill English and John Key, employers in the public and private sectors are saying they can only offer a 0% pay increase this year – and many are trying to cut conditions like redundancy and overtime. 0% is a pay cut. The cost of living went up 1.9% […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, September 19th, 2009 - 20 comments
The Talleys and National Party-linked Open Country Cheese is currently trying to run its factory without its workers as it attempts to bust the union and casualise its workforce. They’ve said they’re running the factory (arguably illegally) with local farmers and strike-breakers flown in from other parts of the country. Problem is, these people aren’t […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:14 am, September 18th, 2009 - 16 comments
The Open Country Cheese dispute is underway. Workers are striking against the bosses’ attempts to casualise their hours and reduce their conditions. They are not striking for huge pay increases, despite the lies of Open Country. Open Country Cheese, part-owned by the notorious Talleys and tied to various National MPs via the Dairy Investment Fund […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, September 17th, 2009 - 6 comments
Some photos from the picketline at Bridgeman Concrete in East Tamaki, where workers have been locked out indefinitely unless they submit to a two year pay freeze. Good to see them standing strong. Click the thumbnails to see the full size pics: Hat tip: NDU via Indymedia.
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, September 17th, 2009 - 23 comments
Over at Red Alert, Darien Fenton tells the story of just one of the thousands of workers currently being laid off without redundancy compensation. Really brings home how important it is for the Government to back the Redundancy Protection Bill: Tanya has worked for Chong Newztel for three years and some of her workmates had […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, September 16th, 2009 - 14 comments
Last week I wrote: We’re seeing a new pattern in work relations emerging. The big employers, emboldened by having their party in power and using the recession as an excuse, are attacking workers’ pay and conditions. Now, on the same day Talley and National-linked Open Country Cheese begins shutting out its workers and illegally using […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, September 15th, 2009 - 7 comments
Some good comments from CTU president Helen Kelly in the Dom today on the Government’s posturing over MP pay increases. “The Government is trying to make a hero out of anybody who doesn’t get a pay increase, and I’m worried about that because there are a lot of workers out there they’re putting pressure on […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, September 14th, 2009 - 17 comments
From the firefighters’ protest against John Key’s pay freeze: Really highlights the double standard in a government that tolerates Bill English’s rorts then has the cheek to turn around and tell the rest of us to show restraint. On another note, it was interesting to see in the 3 News piece John Key using private […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 pm, September 13th, 2009 - 25 comments
Finance Minister Bill English has told doctors, teachers, and other public servants that they will not be getting pay-raises when their collective contracts come up for renewal. That is constitutionally outrageous and a big political mistake. Ministers are not allowed to direct public sector pay negotiations. It is clearly against the rules of the State Sector […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, September 12th, 2009 - 7 comments
Following on from the workers’ rights/class war theme of the last few days, here’s an old classic:
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, September 11th, 2009 - 20 comments
A coalition of unions, Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party, and community groups has come together to support Darian Fenton’s Redundancy Protection Bill. There’s a website, facebook group, petition, and other ways you can get involved. The Bill, due to be debated later this month, would set a minimum level of redundancy protection for all […]
Recent Comments