Written By: - Date published: 11:17 am, April 8th, 2008 - 16 comments
The Herald could barely contain its self-satisfaction when National’s David Farrar complained to the Electoral Commission that the country’s largest private sector union, the EPMU, which comprises 50,000 working New Zealanders, should not be allowed to register as a third party under the Electoral Finance ACT. ‘ Law gags friend as well as foe‘ proclaimed […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:57 pm, April 4th, 2008 - 79 comments
David Farrar’s latest political campaign on behalf of the National Party has, like so many of them before, foundered on the sharp rocks of reality. In an attempt reminiscent of the ramshackle PR fiasco that was the Free Speech Coalition, DPF tried to get the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s application for third party status […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:21 pm, April 3rd, 2008 - 34 comments
It was nice to see this independent report into the ACC scheme by Price Waterhouse Coopers. Amongst the general positive comments was this observation: “The ACC under its current implementation structure performs as well or better than most other schemes we can observe around the world.” “No fault” models (such as ours) are associated with: […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:20 pm, April 2nd, 2008 - 14 comments
I’ve just got back from a small but very vocal picket outside Spotless’ corporate HQ on The Terrace in solidarity with the 800 cooks, cleaners and orderlies from hospitals around New Zealand who began 24 hours of strike action today. They’re striking because despite agreeing to a pay deal with Spotless last year the company […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:01 pm, April 1st, 2008 - 107 comments
Now this is rich. National, the party that gave New Zealand its low wage economy, is running the line that the trans-Tasman wage gap is “Labour’s legacy”. You’d think such a shameless rewriting of history would be laughed off in a second, but it seems in the age of the memory hole even senior political […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:02 am, April 1st, 2008 - 15 comments
Today is a big day for government policy affecting Kiwis’ incomes: The minimum wage is now $12 an hour, up from $7 when Labour gained power. Youth rates have been effectively abolished, meaning young people will get the same pay for the same work. From today, employers must contribute to employees’ Kiwisaver accounts equivalent to 1% […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:18 pm, March 27th, 2008 - 36 comments
Ever since the Herald lost its rag over the EFA I’ve come to expect little more than half-truths and inaccuracies from its editorials, but today’s effort was particularly disappointing. Business NZ press release in one hand and a keyboard in the other, the Herald had itself all wound up over suggestions that proposed minimum entitlements to meal […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, March 26th, 2008 - 8 comments
Legislated breaks for workers are unnecessary according to Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O’Reilly. His bitter protest against proposed changes to employment legislation that would guarantee rights to breaks that workers should have anyway, was joined by Hospitality Association chief exec Bruce Robertson despairing that no one is allowed to do anything anymore. Phil […]
Written By: - Date published: 1:46 pm, March 26th, 2008 - 13 comments
I had planned to write something about the business lobby’s moaning over Labour’s plans to restore workers’ rights to meal and rest breaks, but as usual No Right Turn nails it perfectly: The government’s plan to restore a minimum entitlement for breaks in the workplace has produced the usual reaction: squealing from employer’s groups, with the Hospitality […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:37 pm, March 25th, 2008 - 17 comments
Congratulations to Kiwisaver’s 500,000th member, baby Remy Van Cruysen, whose parents, Jules and Megan, signed him up today. By the time Remy is an adult he will have a nest-egg worth $49,000 in today’s money. Kiwisaver has been enormously popular. People have signed up at twice the expected rate 500,000 have joined in less than eight months, […]
Written By: - Date published: 4:32 pm, March 25th, 2008 - 10 comments
The weekend marked the centenary of the Blackball miners’ strike. TV3 reported that: “Politicians flocked to Labour’s spiritual home on the West Coast to celebrate the centenary of a miners’ strike which helped build the country’s Labour movement into a political force.”
Written By: - Date published: 5:38 pm, March 20th, 2008 - 74 comments
NZers’ wallets will bulge under Act, says Roger Douglas. Sure they will Roger – with the bills from our kids’ user-pays schools, our privatised hospital fees, water charges, private accident insurance premiums and, if your party gets half a chance, the privatised oxygen from the air we breathe. Because we all know who gets rich […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, March 18th, 2008 - 65 comments
The recent scandal over Air New Zealand underpaying its Chinese workers to the tune of four times less than their New Zealand counterparts comes as no surprise given the sick management culture at our national carrier, and highlights some serious contradictions in the airline’s ownership structure. Here we have a company that’s 80% owned by […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:04 pm, March 13th, 2008 - 26 comments
From the ABC site: “A peak business group says the Federal Government’s promised tax cuts should be taken into account when deciding on an increase to the minimum wage. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry is proposing a rise of $10 to $11 – in line with last year’s increase. The ACTU is lobbying for […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:36 pm, March 10th, 2008 - 42 comments
At 30%, the corporate tax is lower than or equal to most developed countries’. Our GST is only 12.5%, in most developed countries it is 15-25%. The economy has grown every year for a decade Inflation has averaged below 3% for over 20 years Workforce participation is 68%, very high by international standards. ACC provides […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, March 8th, 2008 - 45 comments
On the 20th of December, John Key was reported in the Bay Report as saying “we would love to see wages drop” while talking to a Kerikeri businesswoman. The story broke nationally three weeks ago and Key offered several, conflicting explanations – he was joking, he was misquoted, he was talking about Australia. The Bay Report stood […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:58 am, March 7th, 2008 - 61 comments
There is more to the John Key “we would love to see wages drop” story than you have been able to read in the blogs or the mainstream media. We’ve been in contact with a large number of people who have been connected at various levels of this story as it has developed. Unfortunately, none […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:51 pm, March 5th, 2008 - Comments Off on Free Osanloo
The International Transport Workers’ Federation is holding an international day of action tomorrow calling for the release of Mansour Osanloo, an Iranian trade unionist and bus driver imprisoned by the state for engaging in independent trade unionism. Osanloo earned the ire of the Iranian authorities after he led protests that increased bus workers’ pay by […]
Written By: - Date published: 5:56 pm, March 4th, 2008 - 53 comments
Michael Cullen made an interesting remark in the House today in response to a question on John Key’s statement that he “would love to see wages drop“. Here’s what Cullen said: I think they would be appalled to learn that the Leader of the Opposition proposed that New Zealand wages should drop, then tried to […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, February 29th, 2008 - 47 comments
NZPA reports that Hollow Men the Talley brothers have been fined $110,000 after eleven workers at their Blenheim plant were subjected to carbon monoxide poisoning from forklift fumes. The company was found guilty of eleven charges of failing to take all practical steps to ensure employee safety by exposing them to the hazard of carbon […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:01 pm, February 28th, 2008 - 51 comments
Having read our coverage of John Key’s ‘we would love to see wages drop‘ line my brother asked ‘but how can a government make wages drop?’ The answer is obvious to those of us who know about this kind of stuff but my brother’s question, along with Colin Espiner’s naïve statement that ‘[a PM] has […]
Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, February 28th, 2008 - 103 comments
Like most of his policy positions John Key’s story on his comment “we would love to see wages drop” just keeps on changing. First he was “misrepresented”, then his comment was “lighthearted”, and now he’s claiming he never said it. Which is it John? In an interview today with Mickey Havoc, Key now denies ever […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:39 am, February 27th, 2008 - 15 comments
When we published the results of our MP survey on John Key’s “we would love to see wages drop” quote last week, we knew that we would not be getting any more responses. The MPs, especially the National ones, would to told in no uncertain terms not to reply by their media people. But there’s […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, February 26th, 2008 - 81 comments
One of the more unsavoury aspects of Key’s “we would love wages to drop” saga is the unwarranted attacks by Key and his allies on the journalist who quoted him, Greg Robertson. Key referred to Robertson as some “young guy who was taking notes“. Key said Robertson’s quote was wrong, or that he was joking, […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:25 pm, February 25th, 2008 - 23 comments
Far North Labour MP Shane Jones laid down the gauntlet to Key over the ‘we would love to see wages drop‘ scandal. Jones reminds Key that: “all it takes to ruin a Teflon pan is one scratch” and in a second press release lays out his challenge: ‘there’s only one way for Mr Key to […]
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, February 25th, 2008 - 76 comments
When it was revealed that John Key had told a business leader he ‘would love to see wages drop‘ it undermined everything he’d told national media about wanting to lift wages. It also had the potential to do irreparable damage to his rhetoric on tax cuts and to show him as being less than honest […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, February 25th, 2008 - 30 comments
At a meeting in Kerikeri last year with a business leader, in the presence of journalist Greg Robertson, National Leader John Key said ‘we would love to see wages drop‘. When this story broke last week, the political commentators were naturally cautious. It is an extraordinary quote. Not because a National leader would think wages […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:02 pm, February 22nd, 2008 - 13 comments
Following the revelation that John Key told a business audience “we would love to see wages drop“, bFM asked him to elaborate [MP3, 3.5MB]: Key: The, look I’ll tell you what the situation was there. We were in a, I know I don’t overtly remember it as part of the DVD tour but it was […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:41 pm, February 22nd, 2008 - 30 comments
Following revelations that John Key told a business audience “we would love to see wages drop“, I sent an email to all 91 MPs whose emails addresses are listed on their bio page on the Parliament website. The email read: “John Key is quoted in the Bay Report, 20/12/07, saying “we would love to see […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:10 pm, February 21st, 2008 - 35 comments
I see the wage-gap is getting another airing on Stuff today, here’s the first few pars: While the gulf between New Zealand and Australian pay packets is narrowing slightly, it’s still a no-contest. Australian full-time workers earned an average of $A1162 ($NZ1350) per week in the year to November, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics […]
Written By: - Date published: 3:37 pm, February 21st, 2008 - 43 comments
There are some out there claiming Key’s statement that he “would love to see wages drop” is out of character. Now I’m always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt and we know actions speak louder than words so I thought I’d have a look at Key’s actions. And what actions would speak […]