Author Archive

Sack Spotless

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 […]

English slapped down by CTU

Written By: - Date published: 11:26 am, April 2nd, 2008 - 17 comments

The Council of Trade Unions has given Bill English a good slapping over his false allegations in Parliament yesterday that the peak union body had broken the Electoral Finance Act. English accused the CTU of failing to include the home address of its financial agent in its application to become a third party, a lapse […]

The trans-Tasman wage gap

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 […]

Herald Digipoll

Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, March 29th, 2008 - 56 comments

The New Zealand Herald reports that Labour has almost halved National’s lead in its latest DigiPoll survey, following a month “memorable for slip-ups and lacklustre performances by leader John Key.” Labour’s managed to claw its way up towards the 40% mark and that’s good news for the Left, which is now back within striking distance of […]

An embarrassing effort

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 […]

Meal breaks

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 […]

Whatever, Roger

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 […]

‘Try the dead rat, it’s delicious’

Written By: - Date published: 1:18 pm, March 20th, 2008 - 18 comments

Hat tip: Chris S in the comments.

Under the bed

Written By: - Date published: 1:39 pm, March 18th, 2008 - 11 comments

Nationalise Air New Zealand

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 […]

Colmar Brunton

Written By: - Date published: 3:39 pm, March 17th, 2008 - 11 comments

TVNZ had another Colmar Brunton poll last night. The gap between National and Labour remains substantial, but has closed by four points since last poll. UPDATE: In a comical twist that bodes poorly for Jim Anderton and Peter Dunne, it seems Colmar Brunton has the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party now polling as high as both […]

New talent at the Herald

Written By: - Date published: 4:34 pm, March 15th, 2008 - 8 comments

I imagine this by-line is an error, but given the way the Herald’s been evangelising for the Right lately you do have to wonder… (Hat-tip: gobsmacked)

Sabotaged truck under labour

Written By: - Date published: 5:49 pm, March 14th, 2008 - 26 comments

Earlier this week a reader drew our attention to Michael Hansen, a candidate in the recent local elections who drew 423 votes in Christchurch’s Spreydon/Heathcote community board on the Sabotaged truck under labour ticket. Intrigued, I did a bit of digging, and it just gets better. It turns out Hansen also stood for city council, […]

Viva Obama

Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, March 13th, 2008 - 6 comments

Following a_y_b’s post about the deliciously punny Yes, Pecan! ice cream, we’ve found some more Obama-flavoured silliness which is also, incidentally, the best campaign song ever. Here’s ‘Viva Obama’, by some random mariachi band: And if that’s not enough Viva Obama goodness you can also download the ringtone and get the MP3 for your iPod […]

Stepping in

Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, March 11th, 2008 - 8 comments

No Right Turn makes a good point about the government’s $700 million innovation fund for the agricultural and food sector: I’m a little surprised that its the government doing this. We have a number of large companies involved in these sectors, and under competent managers, they’d already be making these investments themselves. Unfortunately, corporate management […]

Roy Morgan

Written By: - Date published: 2:40 pm, March 10th, 2008 - 28 comments

The latest Roy Morgan poll is out, covering the period February 18 – March 2. The poll shows National still able to govern alone, but after John Key’s performance last week it’s looking increasingly unlikely that National will be able to hold onto its 15 point lead until polling day. A few more points for […]

Political interference at APN

Written By: - Date published: 11:39 pm, March 6th, 2008 - 38 comments

Last night we published a tip-off saying the New Zealand Herald planned to report that its APN stable-mate the Bay Report would be correcting its story where John Key said ‘we would love to see wages drop.’ That story was published by the Herald this morning, hours before the Bay Report had even gone to […]

Some questions

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 pm, March 5th, 2008 - 57 comments

Today in Parliament Bill English made a very interesting comment which, if true, raises some very concerning questions about either his own honesty or the editorial integrity of APN, publishers of the New Zealand Herald. Referring to a quip from Michael Cullen about John Key’s statement that ‘we would love to see wages drop‘, English […]

Free Osanloo

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 […]

Did Key try to get ‘wage drop’ journalist sacked?

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 […]

Herald-Digipoll

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, March 3rd, 2008 - 31 comments

The latest Herald-Digipoll shows National continuing its huge lead over Labour. It’s a rather strange looking Parliament, with the Greens dropping below the threshold with only 4.4% of the vote. I do find that hard to believe though, given the same poll had the Greens at 9% just a month ago. Either way, it shows […]

Winston tears Paul Henry a new one

Written By: - Date published: 11:13 am, February 29th, 2008 - 30 comments

I’m as sick of the Owen Glenn saga as the next guy, but Winston Peters’ tussle with failed National Party candidate and Close Up presenter Paul Henry last night was highly entertaining. There’s been a bit of comment about the interview around the blogs, so here it is for those who missed it:

Talleys in trouble again

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 […]

Cutting out the middle man

Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, February 28th, 2008 - 39 comments

The Herald reports that after questioning by the media, ‘Prime Minister Helen Clark says her criticisms of the New Zealand Herald bear no similarity to the ejection a newspaper publisher from Fiji by that country’s military regime.’ That the Herald believes this is in need of clarification, or is even worthy of publication in a […]

Nader standing

Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, February 26th, 2008 - 12 comments

Last night Ralph Nader announced his candidacy for President of the United States on NBC’s Meet the Press. Many Democrats see Nader as a ‘spoiler’ candidate and blame him for losing them the 2000 election, but in his announcement he came out swinging, attacking the two-party system and pointing out that “If the Democrats can’t […]

Transcript proves Key is lying

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 […]

Margaret Wilson to stand down

Written By: - Date published: 1:14 pm, February 22nd, 2008 - 8 comments

Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson has announced she will not be seeking a position on Labour’s list next election. This won’t come as a huge surprise, and after what she’s had to put up with in the house over the last couple of years I’m sure she’ll be pleased to be moving on.

Bunnings workers strike to close wage gap

Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, February 21st, 2008 - 41 comments

While media, politicians and the Kiwi blogosphere are arguing about the wage gap with Australia, around four hundred NDU members at Bunnings Warehouse are taking matters into their own hands with a two-hour nationwide strike action today. Bunnings workers in New Zealand start on just $12 an hour compared to $19 for their counterparts in […]

Fidel calls it a day

Written By: - Date published: 10:09 pm, February 19th, 2008 - 30 comments

The BBC reports that Fidel Castro has retired as Cuban leader. Castro has survived a US-backed invasion, numerous assassination attempts and the fall of the Soviet Union, but after nearly 50 years in power his ailing health finally got the better of him. His legacy will be a mixed one. Authoritarian rule, human rights abuses […]

Colmar Brunton poll

Written By: - Date published: 11:21 am, February 18th, 2008 - 25 comments

The polls seem to be all over the place at the moment, with last night’s TVNZ/Colmar Brunton poll showing National out to a 19 point lead over Labour. That’s quite a swing from recent polls, which have shown the gap between the two major parties narrowing to within ten points, and although Colmar Brunton has […]

Simpsons evolution

Written By: - Date published: 11:44 pm, February 10th, 2008 - 9 comments

This evening’s Simpsons – Best. Intro. Ever.