The Productivity Commission reports that freight costs are 25% higher here than in Australia and freight costs as a % of cargo value has risen in recent years. Their solution? Make the public and port workers poorer by privatisation and casualisation. Of course, those are ideological goals, not solutions to the freight cost issue, which has nothing to do with ports.
A leaked Ports of Auckland strategy document shows their goal is to reduce the stevedores’ wages by 20%. They were planning to manufacture a crisis even before the stevedores’ collective expired. They’ve been rumbled breaking the law by not bargaining in good faith. Their political support will now evaporate. They should cut their losses, and a deal with the workers, now.
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National high flyer Jami-Lee Ross, Ports of Auckland’s chief shill, and Fran O’Sullivan all joined the fray over the port dispute yesterday. How does their line that the workers are overpaid marry with the Port’s claim that they’re offering pay rises? Does the Port project its wage bill would rise or fall if its offer were to be accepted? And what to make of this ‘national interest’ line?
Employment confidence has plunged to its lowest level in 2 years, according to the latest Westpac survey. A bosses’ shill says workers are wrong to be worried about their jobs. Unfortunately, the bosses have been promising us that everything’s going to be OK for four years now, and workers have a good track record on picking the state of the job market.
DPF has joined the chorus of overpaid righties calling for working people to have their pay cut.
That’s despite him being on a pretty good wicket himself.
What is it with the right and the politics of envy?
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Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
Scott’s take on John Key’s contribution to The New Zealand Literature Heritage Trail booklet.
Is the title of the independent High Pay Commission’s report set up to look at “the reasons for the gap between high and low pay in the UK and why this matters.” It is very good and well worth a read. Christchurch City Council CEO’s Tony Marryatt, whose pay late last year rocketed up by $68,000 to $585,000 on a 7-5 split vote, should take note. So should Mayor Bob Parker and the other 6 – the protest goes on.
There has been some interesting material floating around in comments and on facebook about the Ports of Auckland waterside disputing workers wages. Looks like we are starting to get some more information outside of the right wing nut job sites. Ultimately the information has to be provided by the Ports of Auckland because they are the only organisation that holds the wages data across employees. But the figures provided by the P0A (the 91k) include overtime payments, shift payments, superannuation subsidies, medical insurance subsidies and hardly constitute a normal wage that the employee would see..
My challenge (as part of my new life as expert communications / campaign / recruitment consultant to the stars) over the next 6 weeks is to encourage 1000 union members to bring their family into the union family for just $1 a week. That’s 1000 people who are already members of a union affiliated to the CTU to sign up their own family and whanau members to Together
Generating a false crisis to justify their ideological policies is a classic rightwing tactic. Key gravely pronounces the system is ‘broken’ and their policy is the solution. Education has been victim to this bullshit. But OECD stats show that we have the best value for money education in the world. How will National justify their ideological assault on teachers now?
They say that the nice thing about Cameron Slater is he’ll believe whatever he’s paid to believe. Yesterday, I asked whether Slater is being paid to run dirt stories for Ports of Auckland. He didn’t deny it. So what is the Port’s propagandist up to? Yesterday, he was calling for the workers’ pay to be slashed while defending the directors’ massive fees.
Update: Ports of Auckland denies paying Slater anything.
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Other day, Curran asked what they should do with Red Alert. Now, Mallard’s again using it, in conjunction with Pagani on his blog, to try to do an end run around his own party to promote benefit ‘reform’. Leaving aside the fact it’s the employment system, not the backstop, that’s broken, this is more strategic idiocy.
Since my post yesterday, Ports of Auckland has upped the ante threatening to sack all its workers and contract out (to quick and loud cheers from the National-aligned blogs they are working with – Cameron Slater’s rate is $10,000 for an operation like this). What they’re proposing is a breach of the law and wouldn’t work, but its just setting the scene for the next stage.
As usual, it’s reduced service over the summer break, unless anything big happens. We hope you’ll get a good break with those dear […]
The Right is up to its old tricks over the Ports of Auckland. It’s the usual pattern: make up some bullshit about how the workers are spoiled and unreasonable, cry that the sky will fall if the company doesn’t get its way, and (this is the long-game) suggest privatisation as the solution. What you haven’t heard is the cause of the ‘crisis’: the Port’s attempt to cut the workers’ conditions and pay.
Here we go – the DomPost offers advice to Shearer on welfare policy, based on a Guardian article by Liam Byrne, British Labour welfare spokesperson. Trevor Mallard, our America’s Cup spokesperson, quotes him on Red Alert as “slaying some sacred cows.” Beveridge and Savage are used in ways they never envisaged. Savage at least had it right – jobs are the priority, not beneficiary-bashing.
Here’s a few guesses about what’ll happen in the year ahead in politics. Shearer will cement his leadership by turning his back on the old guard who put him there. The Greens will hold on to their gains. National will go hell for leather. Mana will build as the Maori Party dies. Asset sales and the economy will be the big issues – can the Left win the framing?
As usual, it’s reduced service over the summer break, unless anything big happens. We hope you’ll get a good break with those dear […]
As usual, it’s reduced service over the summer break, unless anything big happens. We hope you’ll get a good break with those dear […]
After blissful isolation in the bush, it’s a shock to come back and read of more earthquakes, the government bullying the media, port workers having to strike to get an inflation-rate pay raise, more road deaths, and today’s balloon tragedy in Carterton. Not to mention government massacre in Kazakhstan and rising violence in Syria. Looks like 2012’s going to be another tough one.
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My blobbed out and weight gaining holiday in sunny Southland is over. I’m back at work and feeling like an early day. Generally I have the post-Xmas blues and a couple of kilos that I need to wear off. But this came up on my playlist at work…. Yeah right
As usual, it’s reduced service over the summer break, unless anything big happens. We hope you’ll get a good break with those dear […]
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
Scott suffers from being a political blogger with sudden time on his hands, and a lack of politics.
As usual, it’s reduced service over the summer break, unless anything big happens. We hope you’ll get a good break with those dear […]
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
Scott suffers from a lack of news.
I read Colin James’s piece on the need for a resilient economy/society in yesterday’s ODT. A competent explanation of a risks facing New Zealand and an acknowledgement that New Zealand needs to design itself to withstand and exploit them. Nothing new to readers of The Standard. But are we building that resilience? James offers no opinion. The answer is ‘no’.
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An earlier post by Mike Smith on inequality referred to a claim by Geoff Vincent that 12% of the taxpayers were paying 49% […]
New years message from the Lt Gen The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae, GNZM QSO Governor-General of New Zealand.
Happy New Year! As usual, it’s reduced service over the summer break, unless anything big happens. We hope you’ll get a good break […]
To everyone in the Standard community – Happy New Year!
We hope 2012 finds you all safe and well and ready for another year of arguing about politics 😉
