employment

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CEOs rake it in while their corporations dodge taxes.

Written By: - Date published: 11:51 am, September 3rd, 2011 - 14 comments

Guns don’t kill people, the old saw goes. People do. By the same token, corporations don’t dodge taxes. People do. The people who run corporations are reaping awesomely lavish rewards for the tax dodging they have their corporations do. A report from the Institute of Policy Studies shows that 25 major U.S. corporations last year paid their chief executives more than they paid Uncle Sam in federal income taxes. Creative accounting is also a problem here.

Hold the front page!

Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, September 3rd, 2011 - 48 comments

Remember those thundering editorials and opinion pieces chastising Labour for focusing on trivia instead of the substantive issues?

Earning or learning

Written By: - Date published: 1:33 pm, September 1st, 2011 - 92 comments

This afternoon Labour released a substantial policy package targeting youth unemployment.  Once again the public is being offered a choice between Labour’s realistic response to a significant problem, and more do-nothing smile and wave.

Cuts and consequences

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, August 25th, 2011 - 23 comments

The government reckons it can cut the number of public sector workers without cutting services. That wasn’t the experience of the 80s and 90s when vital institutional knowledge and expertise were lost in a frenzy of asset sales,  privatisation and brutal job cuts– when public service numbers dropped from around 85,000 public servants  to under  30,000 […]

Nats refuse to face their record on youth

Written By: - Date published: 6:46 am, August 17th, 2011 - 46 comments

Having decided to beat up on a few thousand of the most hard done by young people in the country, National is now refusing to acknowledge the problem of disconnected youth that has ballooned under their watch. There are enough young people who aren’t in education, training, or work to fill Eden Park, and Key is literally running from the issue.

Breeding for a business?

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, August 1st, 2011 - 76 comments

A typical shock horror headline on Stuff in the weekend – “Pre-teens dream of kids and dole”.  So what’s going on here, and is it an argument for “welfare reform”?

The problem is not in the schools

Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, July 20th, 2011 - 90 comments

According to a recent report, disadvantaged NZ youth are at the “bottom of OECD league”.  The report recommends various interventions in schools.  The recommendations completely miss the point, because the problem is not in the schools, the problem is in society.

Nats block pay equity bill

Written By: - Date published: 2:33 pm, July 6th, 2011 - 11 comments

The Nats are all in favour of pay equity for women.  Or so they say.  But their actions speak louder than their words.

No future in NZ?

Written By: - Date published: 7:14 am, June 28th, 2011 - 205 comments

John Key was elected promising to stop the exodus to Australia. He has failed.  More and more Kiwis, especially the young, are leaving.  And is it any wonder?

Sexist dinosaur Nats

Written By: - Date published: 7:07 am, June 27th, 2011 - 59 comments

Employers and Manufacturers Association head Alasdair Thompson’s sexist outbursts have drawn near universal condemnation, and are likely to cost him his job.  But while we’re about the business of punishing sexist dinosaurs, we should set our sights a little higher than Thompson.

Dunedin public meeting tomorrow

Written By: - Date published: 9:56 am, June 21st, 2011 - 63 comments

Up to forty jobs are at risk at Dunedin’s Hillside Railway Workshops, because the government would rather send money to China than invest in Kiwi jobs and industry.  It’s crazy.  Come along to the public meeting tomorrow Wednesday at 7pm.

CTU research on minimum wage

Written By: - Date published: 10:28 am, May 25th, 2011 - 24 comments

The response to two recent posts here at The Standard have shown what a contentious topic the minimum wage is.  So it’s timely that yesterday saw the release of the CTU’s summary of research on Minimum Wage and Jobs.

How’s this for employment conditions?

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, May 24th, 2011 - 33 comments

Here’s a stunning headline from the Herald on the glamour of working at SkyCity casino:

Flea collars for SkyCity staff

Perhaps next they could introduce compulsory de-lousing baths at the end of each shift?

The lazy unemployed

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, May 23rd, 2011 - 22 comments

John Key reckons the unemployed need “a kick in the pants”.  Paula Bennett reckons the Nats’ harsh reforms mean that “the dream is over” for beneficiaries.  Meanwhile, back in the real world…

Sick April Fool’s Joke

Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, April 1st, 2011 - 72 comments

Today National has a terrible April Fools for workers around Aotearoa: 90 day fire-at-will, reduced union access, sick notes after 1 day and minimum wage up a pittance. Workers are doing it tough already, and now National’s turning the screw.

Welfare reforms will drive wages down

Written By: - Date published: 3:58 pm, February 27th, 2011 - 28 comments

The coming welfare reform is less a welfare policy and more another industrial relations policy in drag.

That’s because it won’t just be beneficiaries that suffer under this new regime but the majority of Kiwi workers too.

Protest @ WINZ today!

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, February 22nd, 2011 - 89 comments

Aucklanders – the fight back against the worst recommendations in the Rebstock report starts now. Join us – Auckland Against Poverty – in a picket, 2pm today outside Work & Income, Sel Peacock Dr, Henderson.

English lashes out

Written By: - Date published: 7:07 am, February 10th, 2011 - 66 comments

By every significant measure our economy is a mess.  Bill English is finance minister for what is looking increasingly like the most useless do-nothing NZ government in living memory.  So is he working on a plan to put things right?  Is he rolling out the big ideas that will get New Zealand moving again?  No – he’s lashing out at public servants.  Pathetic.

Bloody Klowns

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, February 5th, 2011 - 80 comments

Ever been in a job where you thought you were underpayed and overworked? Ever voiced those feelings to your workmates? Either on the job, or during ‘smoko’, over the telephone or through some other electronic medium?

A Burger King employee in Dunedin has. And now, astonishingly,  faces the possibility of being fired for serious misconduct.

Is the 90 day trial “working”?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 4th, 2011 - 66 comments

The NZIER recently popped up with a study  purporting to show that the “90-day trial period” (the fire at will bill) is “working”.  The study and its conclusions have since been widely quoted.  Unfortunately the conclusions are a load of nonsense.  NZIER have committed the amateur hour mistake of seeing the cause that they want to see.

Unemployment Up

Written By: - Date published: 12:08 pm, February 3rd, 2011 - 23 comments

The December quarter employment statistics are out.  And there’s a big jump up to 6.8% unemployment.  11,000 people lost their jobs, 8,000 became “unemployed” and 3,000 others left the workforce altogether.  The labour force participation rate (the number of people of working age, working) is down to 67.9%.

No Jobs is Government’s Fault, Not Recession’s

Written By: - Date published: 12:12 pm, January 17th, 2011 - 25 comments

The “Great Recession” saw a greater spike in unemployment in New Zealand compared to its drop in GDP than almost everywhere. Whilst GDP slumped, unemployment did less so in all but 2 countries across the world: NZ and Spain.  The Government, far from being relentlessly focussed on jobs, has ensured with its policies that workers were laid off in swathes.

Ministerial review: poverty

Written By: - Date published: 6:22 am, January 6th, 2011 - 26 comments

When was the last time that John Key mentioned the ‘underclass’? In his Statement to Parliament at the start of last year – after Eddie called him out on never talking about the underclass – but he didn’t actually read that part of the statement. So, what has Key actually done for the underclass that he purported to care for so much? Nothing. He’s let poverty worsen.

National cause of dire economy

Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, December 21st, 2010 - 13 comments

National still seem to be getting a lot of cover for their economic mismanagement from the Global Financial Crisis way back in 2007-2008.  But New Zealand’s failure to be “roaring out of recession”, as John Key promised, is no longer tied to the GFC.  It’s Bill English and National’s economic policies that mean that the government deficit is pushing the limits with no reward for average kiwis.

National Attacks Vulnerable Children

Written By: - Date published: 7:25 am, December 14th, 2010 - 22 comments

National are consistently attacking the vulnerable in society – those who cannot fight back and complain. This is where a lot of their cuts are aimed at – those who need it most. Be it in health, education or welfare.

And in several recent health and education National cuts have hurt the most vulnerable – our children.  Not just the massive ECE cuts of Tolley, but cuts hurting those at the bottom even more.

An invitation to Warner Brothers to be up front

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, October 27th, 2010 - 10 comments

Wallace Chapman has a thoughtful Open Letter to the visiting Warner Brothers executives on his blog, inviting them to front up to the New Zealand public: We have a small segment called “Soapbox” and we’d just love you to come over and join us and speak your mind to camera for 60 seconds. We know […]

Hobbit producers caught in a lie?

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 pm, October 22nd, 2010 - 134 comments

Emails have surfaced showing the Hobbit dispute was settled early this late last week.

So why did Jackson go on the offensive on Thursday?

Is he not talking to Warners or is there more in play in this than the actors dispute?

A quick note on the Hobbit and labour stability

Written By: - Date published: 8:07 am, October 22nd, 2010 - 84 comments

If labour stability is the big issue with keeping the Hobbit here the answer is very simple.

Employ workers as employees, not contractors.

Jobs for their mates

Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, October 15th, 2010 - 37 comments

So John Key was unusually forthcoming to a question this morning – he was very keen to give poor Kerry Prendergast a job.

Key knows how hard his government has made it to get a job, so he’s eager to help her out.

Big ups to Helen Kelly and a question for the lawyers out there

Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, October 3rd, 2010 - 15 comments

Helen Kelly has brought the two parties in the hobbit dispute together.

That’s a job well done and a big step in settling this dispute.

But there is still the broader issue of independent contracting being used to circumvent employment law and whether it could be fixed by legislation.

One of these things is not like the other XII

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, October 3rd, 2010 - 28 comments

One of these things is not like the other, One of these things is not quite the same. Can you guess which one is not like the other, Can you tell me before I finish the game?