Happy Mondayised holiday!

Written By: - Date published: 6:22 am, February 8th, 2016 - 28 comments
Categories: labour, workers' rights - Tags: , ,

Happy Mondayised holiday everybody! (Well – almost everybody, Talley’s workers are under attack).

Thanks to David Clark, to Grant Robertson, to Labour, and to those who supported the bill – the Greens, New Zealand First, the Maori Party, United Future, the Mana Party and Brendan Horan.

28 comments on “Happy Mondayised holiday! ”

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  2. upnorth 2
    8 February 2016 at 8:46 am

    I was always against the Monday holiday bill because I firmly believe we should celebrate the day an event occurred. Even Easter is a confused mess of actual dates.

    It always seemed a vote catcher to me and missed the whole point of relevance.

    I am a great believer in 40 hour week and annual holidays and also understand to be competitive globally we need to be open 24/7 but the Monday bill didn’t protect rights as the national holiday was always there in the calendar.

    I always find it hard to understand that the left leaning MP’s even support Easter holidays – left leaning MP’s don’t believe in that sort of stuff.

    My suggestion for holidays are as follows

    Xmas eve to New Year 2nd January
    ANZAC
    NZ Day (to be worked out)
    5 weeks annual leave

    That is approximately 7 weeks.

    • weka 2.1
      8 February 2016 at 9:04 am

      The only thing that makes Easter confusing is that some provinces tack on their Anniversary day. Otherwise it’s straight forward, Friday and Monday are public holidays.

      Why wouldn’t left leaning MPs believe in Easter holidays?

      • alwyn 2.1.1
        8 February 2016 at 9:46 am

        Clearly a true Southlander. I’ll bet you even roll your r’s.

        The only “province” that does this is Southland.
        Easter this year is 15-28 March. Southland has the holiday on 29 March. No other province does so.
        It is therefore the case for only about 2% of the New Zealand population.
        http://employment.govt.nz/er/holidaysandleave/publicholidays/publicholidaydates/current.asp

        • weka 2.1.1.1
          8 February 2016 at 10:27 am

          In Otago some people take it on the Tues after Easter, some people take it on the actual day. I’ve lost track of who does what when. It does cause some confusion.

          You need better research skills.

          • alwyn 2.1.1.1.1
            8 February 2016 at 10:54 am

            “You need better research skills”
            What a silly comment.
            I simply googled provincial public holidays.
            You on the other hand relied on a faulty memory. As you say
            “I’ve lost track of who does what when. It does cause some confusion”
            It is you who needs better research skills.

            • weka 2.1.1.1.1.1
              8 February 2016 at 11:19 am

              Yeah, you googled, looked at the first hit and got it wrong.

              “I’ve lost track of who does what when. It does cause some confusion”
              It is you who needs better research skills.

              🙄 The whole point of this conversation is that the variability causes confusion about when the holiday is taken. Nothing to do with my research skills, but since you insist on making a fool of yourself two days in a row,

              Otago Anniversary Day is once again providing the annual dose of confusion about what will be open, and what will not.

              The annual public holiday celebrates the establishment of Otago’s provincial government on March 23, 1852.

              Despite that date, the anniversary is officially celebrated on the closest Monday, which this year is March 21.

              But many observe it at Easter, which leaves Otago residents wondering which public services and businesses will be recognising the annual holiday on Monday.

              The Dunedin City Council, Waitaki District Council, Central Otago District Council and Balclutha District Council offices will be closed, but council offices in Wanaka and Queenstown will be doing business as usual.

              All pools and libraries in the region will be open, except in Balclutha, where they will be closed. All rubbish will be collected as usual except in Alexandra and Oamaru, where it will be collected on Tuesday.

              Major retailers throughout the region, and supermarkets will also be open, as will district courts in Dunedin and Queenstown.

              But in Dunedin, at least, some cafes, bars and restaurants have opted to remain closed, as will all banks in the region.

              For some Otago school pupils, Otago Anniversary Day will mean a day off school. But not all schools observe the public holiday.

              The Ministry of Education allows individual schools to decide whether they observe the public holiday on Monday or at Easter.

              All Otago Daily Times offices will be closed on Monday.

              http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/otago/152433/anniversary-day-variety-observance

              • red-blooded …
                8 February 2016 at 11:37 am

                Yes, but what on earth has this got to do with Mondayised holidays? This is simply an occasional confusion that’s linked to the strange, roaming nature of Easter (which is not a fixed date): http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/determining-easter-date.html.

                The Mondayising of Anniversary day would cause no problem if Easter was similarly logical.

                I’m very glad David Clark’s bill got through. Thanks, David. I just wish there weren’t already some employers trying to undermine it.

                • weka …
                  8 February 2016 at 11:55 am

                  upnorth (who I replied do) said that we should celebrate dates on the actual dates. That started a sub thread conversation.

                  I like that Easter is tied to the full moon and prefer that to a set date. A set date would be arbitrary and removed from most cultural meaning. If we were going to do that we may as well just not do Easter and have a set but culturally random holiday in the Autumn.

                  Agreed about Mondayising in general.

                  “The Mondayising of Anniversary day would cause no problem if Easter was similarly logical.”

                  The confusion about Anniversary Day in Otago has nothing to do with when Easter falls. It’s because no-one can agree whether to Tuesdayise it or take it on the actual date, so businesses, shops and workplaces all vary.

              • alwyn …
                8 February 2016 at 11:44 am

                I’m afraid you don’t understand what is going on.
                You say
                “Despite that date, the anniversary is officially celebrated on the closest Monday, which this year is March 21.” That is the date of the celebration and the date that is defined as the public holiday.

                If people are given the day after Easter off it is simply that they are going to work on the public holiday and have the day after Easter off in lieu.

                You are clearly incapable of holding a polite conversation.

                • weka …
                  8 February 2016 at 11:57 am

                  None of that is relevant to the actual original point though Mr Pot.

                • McFlock …
                  8 February 2016 at 2:48 pm

                  All clearly defined with the simplicity of someone who’s never walked down a street where 3/4 of the shops are open, all the banks are shut, and half the major employers in town are on skeleton staff. Then a week or so later the banks are open, the other half of major employers are on skeleton staff, and a different quarter of the shops are shut.

                  No matter how you wriggle and dance, the facts on the ground call you a fucking liar. Your previous comments call you a plagiarist and a racist.

    • Lanthanide 2.2
      8 February 2016 at 9:16 am

      Except your idea of making xmas eve to 2nd January a holiday makes it very difficult for companies to employ people for boxing day and new year sales, and makes it difficult for people who want to go to said sales to do so.

      Also effectively not having any other country-wide holidays (like queens birthday) further damages domestic tourism and retail trade.

      • alwyn 2.2.1
        8 February 2016 at 9:51 am

        Somehow, in a society like today’s, the idea of most businesses and shops closing down for 10 days or so over the Christmas/New Year period doesn’t seem to be a goer.

      • weka 2.2.2
        8 February 2016 at 10:30 am

        Having breaks spread out over the year (Queen’s Birthday, Labour Day) also means people get breaks in between the long holidays, which is important.

    • sabine 2.3
      8 February 2016 at 9:37 am

      you should join a union and argue for change 🙂

      • upnorth 2.3.1
        8 February 2016 at 7:15 pm

        Who me?

        I would repel the Monday law. I said that in my post I did not like the bill and added no value to our country.

        The whole holiday act should be overhauled.

    • DoublePlusGood 2.4
      8 February 2016 at 10:23 am

      You seem to have missed Waitangi Day. I wonder why that might be…

  3. Dot 3
    8 February 2016 at 10:43 am

    Worthwhile change,
    I am sure that lots of school kids will be happy too, especially in this hot weather [many people here at the beach]
    Thank you Labour and all parties who voted for this sensible change.

  4. Pasupial 4
    8 February 2016 at 11:11 am

    By a fortunate coincidence, this year’s mondayised Waitangi day coincides with the Chinese New Year/ Spring Festival (in the northern hemisphere – which is where China is after all): The year of the monkey starts at 1pm Today. That won’t be the case again for quite some time, although in 2027 it will fall on; Waitangi Day on a Saturday, so it will be the third day of the festival that will be Mondayised (which is; “considered an unlucky day to have guests or go visiting.”)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year#Festivities

    Given our increasingly Chinese population, it might be time to consider having at least the first day of this festival as a national holiday (it goes on for 15 days apparently), or at least allowing sale of fireworks. Though it does have similar problems as Easter – a movable feast celebrating the wrong season in this hemisphere.

    • Colonial Viper 4.1
      8 February 2016 at 12:07 pm

      Not a bad idea but I daresay that actually NZ needs a new public holiday in August some time, not another one around Feb.

      • Pasupial 4.1.1
        8 February 2016 at 12:52 pm

        CV

        I think a good start would be to move the New Year’s holiday to the Winter Solstice. This would work in well with Matariki and make more sense of yuletide customs (eating hot plum pudding and custard after a turkey dinner in the middle of summer is just peculiar and nauseating). Though that is fairly close to Queen’s birthday.

        Weka’s comment at 2.2.2; “Having breaks spread out over the year (Queen’s Birthday, Labour Day) also means people get breaks in between the long holidays, which is important”, reinforces your suggestion of an additional August stat. Antipodean Imbolc is likely to be a nonstarter, however I can’t think of any major Aotearoan event in August to celebrate off the top of my head. Did you have any suggestions?

        • weka 4.1.1.1
          8 February 2016 at 3:14 pm

          When we become a republic we can dump Queen’s Birthday and replace it with Matariki. My preference would be to make it a moveable feast like Easter, because like Easter its basis is in the seasons (first new moon after Matariki rises would be good).

          So that gives a long weekend in June, but not an additional one.

          Having a long weekend on or near all the cross quarter dates would be cool. Feb 6/Waitangi, 30 April, 2 August, 30 Oct/Labour Day. That means we only need to add in two more. Actually the April one is close enough to ANZAC Day, so it’s just August 2. The only thing I can think of is that it’s in the middle of the ski season. Or maybe tie it into our national sport, gardening. First light as the signal that spring is nearly here and time to get the garden sorted for later planting.

          😉

  5. Skinny 5
    8 February 2016 at 1:38 pm

    Good work David Clark and the Labour crew for delivering another win for workers joining the extra weeks holiday the last Labour Government implemented. Cheers we are having a great day out in the countryside!

  6. Ross 6
    8 February 2016 at 10:05 pm

    Last year Anzac Day was Mondayised as it fell on a Saturday.