workers’ rights

Categories under workers’ rights

health and safety (156)
unemployment (251)
Unions (427)
wages (502)

Pattern recognition

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 12:21 pm, September 30th, 2010 - 23 comments

John Key tells a businesswoman he “would love to see wages drop“. National makes sub-inflation minimum wage increase. National makes no effort to bring unemployment back down. Unemployment chokes wage rises. National attacks unions, the biggest driver of wage rises. Wage gap with Australia widens National opposes pay increases for teachers, medical techs, doctors,… National […]

Nats back Jackson over Kiwi workers

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 8:48 am, September 30th, 2010 - 112 comments

Arts Minister Chris Finlayson has backed the Hobbit producers’ refusal to negotiate with Kiwi workers.

He’s citing a Crown Law opinion that backs Jackson’s claim he can’t negotiate with workers collectively.

But he’s deliberately asked a very narrow question to get the answer he wants – an answer he’s using to back foreign big business over the rights of Kiwi workers.

Tax cuts for the rich no use if you’ve lost your job

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 6:45 am, September 30th, 2010 - 66 comments

Despite Bill English’s firm statement that “unemployment has peaked”, jobs are still being lost in large numbers. 1500 council workers in Auckland. 150 mushroom workers in Morrinsville. 500 workers whose quake hit employers are closing down in Christchurch. From John Key’s Hawaiian beach chair these worries must seem very far away.

Jackson threatens capital flight

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:26 pm, September 29th, 2010 - 36 comments

I thought Peter Jackson was an ordinary guy made good who hadn’t let success make him an elitist prick. I was wrong. New Zealand taxpayers contributed hundreds of millions to his <em>Lord of the Rings</em> trilogy and what thanks do we get? Threats of capital flight, which will probably soon be followed by demands for taxpayer subsidies.

Jackson’s employment law fibs

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:59 am, September 29th, 2010 - 18 comments

Peter Jackson and others film industry employers are claiming they can’t employ their workers as employees.

That claim is simply untrue.

So what’s the real reason for their reluctance to employee people on proper agreements?

Nats’ shortsighted penny-pinching will cost us big in the end

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:28 pm, September 28th, 2010 - 52 comments

While the cat’s away the mice will play. And while the clown’s sunning himself in Hawaii the ideologues in his Cabinet will launch vitriolic attacks on public service workers. As teachers are forced to endure another day of the country’s most powerful figures attack them, lets consider the consequences of undermining vital public services.

Meanwhile, in some good news…

Written By: Bill - Date published: 7:40 am, September 28th, 2010 - 12 comments

While the Anglo – Saxon or English speaking left seems unable to shake a deep malaise that began afflicting it some thirty years ago, the left in the Spanish speaking world is making some remarkable strides forward.

MEAA fisks Jackson tirade

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 8:19 pm, September 27th, 2010 - 53 comments

The MEAA has responded to Peter Jacksons Tirade.

And it looks like he’s not been very straight-up about how the situation got to this.

A suggestion for students

Written By: r0b - Date published: 10:39 am, September 27th, 2010 - 154 comments

The voluntary student union membership bill is based on a false premise, and a reflexive tory hatred for the word “union”. I have a suggestion for students…

Union boycotts Jackson

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:51 am, September 27th, 2010 - 99 comments

Film workers in New Zealand have been exploited for years

Now their union is standing up for them.

And Sir Peter Jackson is throwing a tantrum about it.

Kiwis against Nats’ Fire at Will

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:10 am, September 20th, 2010 - 84 comments

A UMR poll just out asked 750 Kiwis if workers should have the right to appeal if they think they are unfairly dismissed within the first 90 days of employment. 80% said yes. That’s a damning rejection of National’s Fire at Will law, which the government wants to extend to every new worker. Will Key and Co listen? Fat chance.

Key’s crocodile tears for teachers & doctors

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:59 am, September 20th, 2010 - 31 comments

John Key says he supports the teachers and junior doctors’ claims for a pay rise ‘but we simply don’t have the money’. Yet Key who is borrowing half a billion dollars this year for tax cuts for the wealthiest 9%. It isn’t a question of what the government can afford. It’s who matters to National – the rich do, teachers and doctors don’t.

A Busy Week In Politics

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 11:41 pm, September 17th, 2010 - 19 comments

It’s been a very big week this week, so I thought I’d do a round-up, just so we don’t forget some of the ‘lesser’ lights that may have been big news had we not had so much to go on…

Democracy only for Luddites?

Written By: Tammy Gordon - Date published: 1:59 pm, September 15th, 2010 - 19 comments

In the Today in Politics column in the DomPost there’s a snippy little piece about the Fairness at Work submissions. The CTU reckons around 6000 people have made submssions against the Bill. A lot of these were made via its website. Not bad going considering the government gave people just over three weeks to have their voice heard. Anyway, the chair of […]

Government To Screw Health Next

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 12:00 pm, September 15th, 2010 - 17 comments

Not content with destroying education to get at teachers, now National are after your health to get at doctors and nurses.

Teachers strike tomorrow

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 1:42 pm, September 14th, 2010 - 13 comments

Here are the reasons for tomorrows strike from a member of the PPTA (Post Primary Teachers Association) in a guest post. The Ministry of Education has rejected them all.

You’d have to expect the spinners for the government to carefully ignore these issues in favour of their usual simplistic meaningless dogwhistling messages. That is the level they’d prefer that kids are educated to.

Request for Information

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 6:46 pm, September 13th, 2010 - 9 comments

Teachers are striking on Wednesday.

But there’s not a lot of information about why.

That’s an information void the government will fill if the PPTA doesn’t.

More attacks on workers coming?

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 8:11 am, September 10th, 2010 - 12 comments

There seems to be confusing in National’s camp about further attacks on workers rights.

Unfortunately this tallies with rumours they’re planning big changes in a second term.

Nats fail to save jobs in quake zone

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:16 pm, September 9th, 2010 - 70 comments

86 workers have been fired from Kaiapoi New World, which will be closed for a year due to quake damage. This is exactly why the government should implement the kind of scheme I outlined where the government steps in to supply the full wages of workers who can’t work due to the quake, funded by delaying the tax cuts for the rich.

Wage subsidy a half-hearted gesture

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:12 am, September 8th, 2010 - 60 comments

The unions, business, and Phil Goff have all gritted their teeth and called the Nats’ $15 million wage subsidy scheme for small quaked-affected businesses ‘a start’. The problem is, it’s likely to be the end. This scheme will leave workers and employers severely out of pocket, killing businesses and jobs.

An economic plan for Christchurch

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:34 am, September 7th, 2010 - 59 comments

Christchurch needs a more ambitious rescue package than has been announced. Relying on EQC and insurance payouts is not enough. I would cancel the top bracket tax cuts due to come into force in a month saving half a billion dollars for a real economic revival plan The first step would be to grant emergency bridging funding to businesses closed by the quake so that they can continue to pay their workers

Paula’s forever blowing bubbles

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:16 pm, September 6th, 2010 - 15 comments

It’s been nearly two years now of Paula Bennett declaring that the unemployment crisis is over. Yesterday, she put out a press release titled ‘More than 6,000 beneficiaries find jobs in August‘. Wow, 6,000 in a month, pretty good. But Bennett must have been hoping we wouldn’t read beyond the title. The fact is that 900 more people went on the dole than came off it. The total number of beneficiaries just keeps climbing.

Christchurch workers

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:24 pm, September 6th, 2010 - 41 comments

Unite Union’s Christchurch office has been flooded with phone calls and text messages from worried workers in post-earthquake Christchurch.

McCarten not going down without a fight

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:30 am, September 5th, 2010 - 33 comments

Almost as an aside, Matt McCarten has announced that he has the “killing kind of cancer” in his column today. Matt is one of the lions of the Left. His union, Unite, has defied the skeptics to become a real success story. Temp and low-paid workers have found an avenue for collective action, and learnt they can win. Matt makes it clear he’ll never flinch from fighting for the workers. Good on ya, mate, we’re with you.

Key slams teachers, medics. Puppies next in his sights

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:17 am, September 1st, 2010 - 10 comments

Key says that teachers are “disconnected from the real world” for wanting a pay rise that will barely beat inflation. This from the same guy who promised higher wages. The same guy chucked half a billion dollars this year alone on the taxpayer credit card for tax cuts for the rich. The only people disconnected from the real world are those who think skimping on education and health will take this country forward.

A relentless focus on jobs

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:49 pm, August 31st, 2010 - 13 comments

The government is canning it’s already too-small and ill-directed Community Max programme. $40 million was a pathetic amount that created, at best, just 3,000 temporary jobs when quarter of a million Kiwis are jobless. And, due to lazy policy-making all the Key government probably ended up doing was subsidising jobs that would have been created anyway.

Unions Succeed where National Fails

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 11:00 am, August 31st, 2010 - 13 comments

National’s big election promise in 2008 was to close the wage gap with Australia. They’re failing, as our wages fall behind theirs under National’s economic mismanagement and employer-centric policies.
But there are some who are doing better than others in the pay stakes:
Union members.

Diconnected Key

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:28 am, August 31st, 2010 - 36 comments

According to John Key, teachers who want to maintain reasonably class sizes and free flu vaccines are disconnected from the real world. That would be the real world of hanging out with the Queen and spending $1.5bn on finance companies I guess. What a dick.