Bad news govt: it must be recess

Written By: - Date published: 1:50 pm, December 13th, 2012 - 11 comments
Categories: business, crime, Economy, jobs, Judith Collins, local government, national/act government, paula bennett, workers' rights - Tags:

The House went into recess yesterday, and today we seem to have a rush of stories that are bad news for the government, and it’s policies.  As well as the whole Collins shoddy way or dealing with the Binnie report on the issues of David Bain’s compensation, Paula Bennett’s punitive policies, and the government’s anti-union, anti-worker campaign and policies are being shown up as counter-productive.

Bennett’s youth camps are not achieving their aims:

For the 31 people who attended the camps prior to April this year, 61 per cent reoffended within six months, with about 60 per cent offending less seriously and less frequently than they had before they attended the camp.

While 12 did not reoffend after the camp, 19 did and 10 youth built up 126 offences between them in just six months.

Youth offending in New Zealand, however, has steadily declined over the past 10 years.

Following the attempts to attack workers’ rights to stable and fair employment, Ports of Auckland have been found guilty of breaking the law during the dispute with MUNZ:

Ports of Auckland has been ordered to pay $40,000 for deliberately breaking the law by employing contractors during industrial action at the port.

The Employment Relations Authority ruled that Ports of Auckland Ltd (POAL) broke the law in February and March when they employed an engineer from overseas at a cost of $10,000 a week to do the work of striking Maritime Union members.

It also illegally used local contractors to carry out engineering work.

At the time union members were on strike and locked out in their battle to stop management contracting out their jobs.

In a decision released yesterday, authority member Anna Fitzgibbon said the port had made “calculated decisions” to break the law.

NZ businesses are warned about the negative impact of low wages, poor working conditions and disregard for workers’ rights.

And Simon Woolley, the business unit manager at Hay Group, said Kiwi firms need to look out for Asia becoming a ‘talent threat’ – especially on top of the competition already posed by Australia.

“If your employees lack job security, feel overworked and under-rewarded, then there is a high chance that they will be attracted to economies or organisations that are continuing to grow strong, and that offer greater opportunities for career development and reward flexibility.”

“It is evident that Australia is doing a very good job of marketing itself to New Zealand with a record 53,700 people moving across the ditch over the past year,” said Woolley.

For this reason, Woolley recommends New Zealand companies make sure they have reward strategies in place with strong incentives to hold on to their staff.

Then there’s the up-coming A-G’s report on Sky City, the international convention centre and the shonkey pokies deal. What other things will Key and his government try to slip under the radar during the summer recess?

 

 

11 comments on “Bad news govt: it must be recess ”

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  1. One Tāne Viper 1
    13 December 2012 at 2:04 pm

    “calculated decisions”

    Grounds for court action against the executives criminals who made these decisions?

    Under the Employment Relations Act 2000, employers can now bring actions or claims against employees in the Employment Relations Authority, where the employee has caused the employer to suffer loss.

    I very much hope so. The people of Auckland who are footing the bill deserve at least that. It’s only a $5,000 fine, which amounts to a slap on the wrist for the scum, but at least it would send a message to ACT apologists and collaborators.

    • tc 1.1
      13 December 2012 at 2:10 pm

      The only message they’ll get is that more law changes are needed to avoid such pesky decisions not going their way.

  2. Draco T Bastard 2
    13 December 2012 at 2:09 pm

    What other things will Key and his government try to slip under the radar during the summer recess?

    As much as they possibly can so that means that we need to keep track of it and keep it in the public’s mind for as long as needed.

    • tc 2.1
      13 December 2012 at 2:12 pm

      It’s worked so far each time they do it.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1
        13 December 2012 at 2:36 pm

        It’s worked because the only people keeping an eye on these thyings was the MSM but the media and information networks are changing and as it does so improved oversight of our government becomes possible.

      • Craig Glen viper 2.1.2
        14 December 2012 at 12:20 pm

        Exactly tc and the Nats will do the same come election time and we will have Shearer against Key with Hooten cheering on Shearer. A winning combination not.

  4. gobsmacked 4
    13 December 2012 at 2:43 pm

    It is breathtakingly cynical politics. So blatantly manipulative, it’s hard not to be impressed by such chutzpah from National.

    To take just one example … Boot Camps. Think of the copious coverage they’ve already got when announcing the policy, then launching the policy itself. It was all over the media. Lots of pictures of snotty young people (“boo! hiss!” says Middle NZ), lots of crowd-pleasing rhetoric, a vote-winner, high fives in the Beehive.

    OK, so it turns out the policy itself doesn’t actually work, but who cares? Not National. And not the voters, because they’ll hardly notice.

    You can predict the election year plan already. Bad news? Kick it down the road. Fake good news? Get it all over the media. Anyone who thinks this lot won’t be ready to fight tooth and nail to hold on to power, should start thinking again.

  5. Veutoviper 5
    13 December 2012 at 2:49 pm

    Lets get that list started – its coming thick and fast already.

    Another one that they probably wanted to fly beneath the radar

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1212/S00255/queens-counsel-appointed.htm

    And the first to be appointed as Queen’s Counsel – none other than the Attorney-General and the Solicitor- General. Chronyism anyone? Chips with that?

    And for NRT’s take on this, see the “Unseemly” link in the Feeds column.

  6. karol 6
    13 December 2012 at 3:53 pm

    Ant the dotcom spying fiasco went right to the top.

    The police organised crime squad that carried out the Kim Dotcom raid has given briefings to a high-powered group charged with protecting New Zealand’s “national security”.

    The briefings to the subcommittee of the group known as “O-Desk” have the potential to draw John Key’s closest intelligence advisers into the ongoing court inquiry into the raid.

    […]

    Since then, the Herald has discovered [OFCANZ] has given three briefings to the subcommittee, which is focused on NZ’s response to organised crime.

    The subcommittee is one of a few that feed into Odesc – the Officials Committee for Domestic and External Security Co-ordination.

    It is a collection of spy agency, diplomatic, government, military and police leaders tasked to “act on the Prime Minister’s behalf to exercise policy oversight of the New Zealand intelligence community”.

    h/t No Right Turn