Written By: - Date published: 12:49 pm, November 14th, 2008 - 56 comments
On one level, the Maori Party’s dealing with National is smart work. Key needs to look inclusive even though he doesn’t need the Maori Party’s support to govern. In return, the Maori Party can cement its future by getting the Maori seats entrenched through a government bill, rather than hoping a private members’ bill gets […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, November 14th, 2008 - 26 comments
The unions have proposed an alternative to National’s plan to slash Kiwisaver in half. If Kiwisaver has to be cut, and with National/Act in power it will happen one way or the other, then I prefer the union plan. As it stands now, you contribute 4% of your gross earnings, your employer matches that 4% […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, November 11th, 2008 - 9 comments
During the debate over the economic stimulus package in the US earlier this year, Moody’s produced a model that shows which stimulus options result in the most increase in GDP per dollar of government spending/tax reduction. I’ve highlighted the three options that are relevant to NZ (the Bush tax cuts are remarkably similar to the […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, November 7th, 2008 - 45 comments
The fundamental question of politics is how the wealth of society should be divided among the members of society. We live in a capitalist society. That means it is the people who own the capital (businesses, factories, farms) who own the things that are made and get to choose how to divide the wealth between […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:14 pm, November 6th, 2008 - 97 comments
You know, you can fly around acting all presidential if you like in a cheap attempt to wow the press gallery but that doesn’t make you the Kiwi Obama. Obama, for one, is a big proponent of work rights and raising the minimum wage. Key is not. His party’s vague work rights policy looks like […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, November 6th, 2008 - 14 comments
Unemployment has risen to 4.2%, the first time in four years it has topped 4%. That’s lower than the experts expected, they thought the rate would blow out to 4.5% or more. But that’s the power of a full employment policy. Because we’ve had such low unemployment for so long, employers are reluctant to lay […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:42 am, November 4th, 2008 - 34 comments
The latest government accounts show the economy is in better condition than was expected. Tax take was $500 million higher than expected due to higher-than-expected income tax revenue. That means more money was being earned from wages and salaries than Treasury had forecast; in other words, unemployment is not rising as fast as Treasury had […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 pm, November 3rd, 2008 - 47 comments
Watching Key tour Progressive Enterprises today was bad enough but watching him claim to support those workers in the leaders debate was sickening considering his party’s stance in 2006 when those same workers were locked out of their employment for daring to ask for a decent pay rise. At the time National’s employment spokesperson (who […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, November 3rd, 2008 - 31 comments
Despite the recession, wages have continued to grow at a record rate and, crucially, faster than inflation. The average hourly rate was up 5.5% over the past year. The percentage of the economy that goes to workers (rather than to the capital owners) continues to increase. This is the outcome of running a low unemployment […]
Written By: - Date published: 6:12 pm, October 31st, 2008 - 32 comments
I see the media are now comparing the ‘redundancy’ packages on offer with all of the horse race vigour they applied to the tax cuts. That’s understandable as the media like quantifiable measures so they can make simple graphs and X is greater or less than Y soundbite statements. But what they have forgotten is […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:39 pm, October 31st, 2008 - 5 comments
National’s redundancy package would effectively continue Working for Families payments for some people who would otherwise lose them after redunancy. Only people who have been in the same job for six months would get it, cutting out labourers, temps, and contract workers. For about the same cost, it would deliver more money to fewer people […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:01 pm, October 30th, 2008 - 78 comments
It’s good to see Labour turning its focus back onto policy (and particularly the economy) today with its announcement of a “job search allowance” for people made redundant in the coming economic downturn. Basically, the allowance means if you lose your job you’ll be eligible for the dole without means-testing for up to 13 weeks. […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, October 30th, 2008 - 1 comment
The CTU has released a second great youtube vid. Well worth a watch and emailing around.
Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, October 29th, 2008 - 48 comments
If you vote National, United Future, or ACT, you will be voting for the ACC system to be privatised. Consequences of this include: – $200 million in profits flowing offshore, according to John Key’s former employers Merril Lynch – higher levies on most workers, as private insurers cherry-pick the most profitable for themselves, leaving the […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:50 pm, October 27th, 2008 - 19 comments
Labour has unveiled its work rights policy, and it’s a good one: – minimum wage increases at least at the rate of inflation or the average wage increase, whichever is higher. That would bring it to nearly $15 a year by 2011. Why they didn’t just commit to $15 like the rest of the Left, […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:38 pm, October 22nd, 2008 - 25 comments
Yep, that’s a pusy Roger Douglas zombie eye staring at you. Ew.
Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, October 22nd, 2008 - 38 comments
OK, we’ve reported on, given historical context to, and mocked Lockwood Smith’s racist comments about seasonal migrant workers. Now, to the substance of what Smith as saying, ie that fewer permits issued under the Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme (RSE) should be allocated to people from the Pacific Islands (because, he says, other people are smaller […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, October 15th, 2008 - 24 comments
The Maori Party wants the dole abolished to be replaced by work schemes. It’s a bad idea but it’s not too far from being a good one. Make work schemes are bad in several ways. They distort the market for low-skill work. The State with an army of cheap, semi-involuntary labour ends up undercutting the […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:54 pm, October 14th, 2008 - 23 comments
Labour, why do you do this to me? One day you’re announcing neo-Keynesian policies to help us through the coming recession, then you stand up for the principle that access to education shouldn’t be dependent on the wealth of ones parents, and, then, just when I’m starting to believe that you really are a true […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, October 13th, 2008 - 16 comments
It was inevitable that the focus of media coverage of Labour’s announements yesterday would be the deposit insurance, it’s a good self-centred middle-class story. But the important stuff, as Irish pointed out last night, is the re-training money, the speed-up of infrastructure construction, the money for sewerage, housing, and anti-erosion projects. The deposit insurance simply acts to […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, October 12th, 2008 - 11 comments
A few thoughts from today’s Agenda: Questioned about why National would introduce another tax rebate, having endlessly criticised Working for Families because of its complexity, English says ‘we do, in the long term, want a simpler tax system’. So, be on notice, Working for Families is under threat from National – they would ‘eventualy, but […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:34 am, October 9th, 2008 - 43 comments
The Greens have announced that they will choose their preferred coalition partner based on their commitment to 12 criteria. I’ll just look at 5 (not that the others are less important, just space): reduce New Zealand’s oil dependence and climate change emissions; – senior Nats don’t even think climate change is happening and the Party […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:42 pm, October 8th, 2008 - 61 comments
John Key has announced that Kiwisaver would be slashed along with National’s tax cuts for the rich (and they are tax cuts for the rich, while most people would get less than under Labour’s plan, under National’s plan by 2011 around half a billion a year more than under Labour’s plan would be going to […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 7th, 2008 - 45 comments
The unions want the minimum wage lifted to $15 an hour, two thirds of the average hourly rate, restoring the historic ratio. The Greens, New Zealand First, The Progressives (I think), the Maori Party* and, oddly, the Kiwi Party are also calling for $15 an hour. Will Labour join them? Labour has an excellent record on the […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:20 pm, October 3rd, 2008 - 4 comments
The Council of Trade Unions has done a lot of work on why wages are low for many workers in New Zealand and how they can be increased to close the wage gap with Australia. They offer six proposals: Increase the minimum wage to at least $15 per/hour We know from the painful experience of […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, October 3rd, 2008 - 36 comments
As The Standard first reported on April 1 and Radio New Zealand picked up today, Treasury figures show that the wage gap between Australia and New Zealand increased 50% under National in the 1990s and has decreased moderately under Labour since then. Now, a lot of our readers simply won’t want to believe that […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:07 pm, September 30th, 2008 - 15 comments
Bill English has put out a press release whingeing about Helen Clark’s promise to lift wages for low-paid school support staff, and fearmongering that it might mean Michael Cullen will cancel his tax cuts. Presumably, English’s statement means National would cancel the planned pay increase to help fund its tax cuts for the rich. These […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:47 pm, September 25th, 2008 - 27 comments
News just in: GO Wellington has lifted the lockout of its 300 bus drivers. The drivers say they are pleased the lockout is over and that they can go back to work but their campaign for a living wage will continue. This is a major backdown from GO Wellington, and confirms my suspicion that they’d […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:21 pm, September 25th, 2008 - 19 comments
A reader sent in this photo from the Wellington bus drivers’ picket line at the Kilbirnie bus depot. The workers are said to be staunch in their claims and are refusing to be intimidated by the company locking them out without pay. The Council of Trade Unions and the International Transport Workers’ Federation have now […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, September 24th, 2008 - 115 comments
Wellington bus drivers are striking this morning and good on them. I was happy to find my own way to work today. The company, GO Wellington, is claiming the drivers claim of 12% is too much in “these economic times” But talk of percentages is nothing but a red herring when the basic truth is […]
