workers’ rights

Categories under workers’ rights

Auckland Central; Should Chloe Swarbrick Stand Aside?

Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, July 16th, 2020 - 127 comments

The Auckland Central electorate will elect a new MP in September. The Greens have a responsibility to make sure it’s the Labour candidate.

Union peak bodies: a beacon of hope for all workers

Written By: - Date published: 11:02 pm, July 11th, 2020 - 21 comments

My view is that neither big nor small unions function particularly well in the modern-day workforce. There are many notable exceptions to this where both do very good work. But few have found the balance of good local support for members, tackling national and international issues and crucially not wasting considerable time and resource fighting another rival union encroaching on their patch.

Local Government: crucial and undervalued

Written By: - Date published: 12:27 am, July 11th, 2020 - 4 comments

On the day of the council vote, we organised for the effected Citi-Ops workers to sit in the public gallery in the Council rooms wearing their High Viz’s and work gear. I was one of three speakers for the union, expressing opposition to axing these jobs. The Council debated the issue for about 30 minutes. Those councillors in favour of making the workers redundant argued that they should not interfere with management decisions. Those against the decision felt that management did not have the mandate to make this decision. The vote ended up being 7-7, so Green Party Mayor Celia Wade-Brown used her casting vote to uphold management’s decision to outsource these workers jobs. The Citi Operations staff were sitting in the room, so Celia and the councillors were looking at these workers as they made them redundant.

Wellington buses now: how a local authority harmed public transport

Written By: - Date published: 7:27 am, July 6th, 2020 - 15 comments

Sure to form, Paul Swain along with Regional Council Chair and another former Labour MP Fran Wilde proposed tearing down the trolleybus wire and increasing the city’s carbon emission. This was to then promptly followed by re-tendering all the bus routes having redesigned all the bus network so that bus companies could then compete over routes and undercut each other. At one council meeting in mid-2016 Swain was questioned about the possibility of protecting drivers jobs and employment conditions. After a few questions, he lost patience, slammed in hand on the table and ended the meeting. This was the extent to which Swain and the Greater Wellington Regional Council considered supporting bus drivers during this process.

National wants to open up our borders, unless you are Indian, Pakistani or Korean

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, July 3rd, 2020 - 55 comments

National Backbench MP Hamish Walker has claimed that Queenstown is to be invaded by people from India, Pakistan and Korea when the reality is the Government is considering using empty Hotels for quarantining returning kiwis.

The 2008 Go Wellington Bus Lockout

Written By: - Date published: 5:44 am, July 3rd, 2020 - 6 comments

20 days after being elected President of the Wellington Tramways and Public Passenger Transport Employees Union (we just called it Tramways), drivers at Go Wellington were locked out. The City nearly ground to a halt with thousands unable to get to work and traffic congestion a nightmare. Certain journalists were quick to call this a communist conspiracy.

Fixing Unemployment – Zoom meetup Saturday 10am

Written By: - Date published: 3:11 pm, June 19th, 2020 - 8 comments

Is it time to completely rethink how we deal with unemployment? We face a tsunami of job losses not seen in generations. Two ideas — social insurance and a job guarantee — are gaining prominence as ways to change how we deal with the problem. One provides income protection for those who lose employment, the other aims for something bolder: the elimination of unemployment. All welcome; register here.

Responsible politics verses Gotcha politics

Written By: - Date published: 8:16 am, June 18th, 2020 - 215 comments

Michael Woodhouse has recently had a difficult ethical dilemma.  He received information suggesting that there were major weaknesses in the Covid quarantine system.  Should he do the responsible thing and point out these weaknesses to the authorities or should he play Gotcha politics?

Kim Hill asked “Why…

Written By: - Date published: 4:51 pm, June 12th, 2020 - 31 comments

…is the US sharemarket roaring away – up 44% – while economic recovery prospects are grim?” ANZ’s Sharon Zollner’s answer on Tuesday was the Fed printing money, but worried markets were turning a  blind eye to the bad news. The bad news hit today as the sharemarket nose-dived. Wolf Richter’s answer was more to Kim’s point: “Fed bails out the wealthy while America convulses in pain.”

Guest Post – Industrial Democracy for Air New Zealand?

Written By: - Date published: 2:56 pm, June 9th, 2020 - 16 comments

To assist with the emergence from the Covid19 crisis it is time to build firms like Air New Zealand into social institutions of democracy, accountable to citizens and not subject to a takeover by the private interests of capital.

Is National Just Inconsistent or Incompetent?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, June 1st, 2020 - 65 comments

National’s new job-creation scheme appears to be inconsistent with their desire to fully re-instate the 90-day trial period.

What has the Government ever done for business?

Written By: - Date published: 1:33 pm, May 29th, 2020 - 19 comments

Borrowing heavily from Monty Python’s Life of Brian Labour MP Deborah Russell sets out what the Government is doing for small business in these Covid 19 times.

Most leaders of the opposition are unemployed, they just don’t know it yet

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, May 29th, 2020 - 68 comments

Holy hyperbole. Todd Muller has claimed that most kiwis are unemployed although they do not realise it yet.  Although in one case he may not be wrong …

New leadership same old tactics

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, May 27th, 2020 - 24 comments

National has released a social media ad suggesting that New Zealand’s per head of population Government debt figure will be worse than Greece’s by 2014.  But the data used presumes the effects of Covid 19 in New Zealand’s figure but no effects of Covid 19 in Greece’s figure.

Two Tier. Bull. Shit.

Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, May 25th, 2020 - 217 comments

I thought we were “in this together” or some such?

Work ideas

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, May 22nd, 2020 - 28 comments

Jacinda Ardern has floated the idea of a four day working week and Grant Robertson wants to change the future of work.  Maybe they should get on and do it.

The International investigation into Covid-19

Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, May 20th, 2020 - 81 comments

More than 110 nations have backed a call for the World Health Organisation to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 virus outbreak.

Oh Sweden

Written By: - Date published: 9:53 am, May 16th, 2020 - 108 comments

Just when we thought liberal democracies meant real freedom was an absolute written into human rights stone, by mid-March this year almost all OECD countries had implemented the most draconian reversal of lockdowns on every single human to combat Covid19. Except Sweden. How is it working out?

Jacinda is not like Muldoon

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, May 13th, 2020 - 97 comments

National has decided to play politics with Covid 19 and is opposing the Government’s attempt to pass legislation to secure level 2 arrangements. And has made the extraordinary claim that Jacinda Ardern is just like Rob Muldoon but with slogans.

Bloomfield and the empire strikes back

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, May 12th, 2020 - 41 comments

Dr Ashley Bloomfield has responded to allegations by Simon Bridges that the government has suspended the Official Information Act and the Emergency Response Committee has made multiple requests for information from the Ministry that it is waiting for by advising publicly there are no outstanding requests for information.

Covid19 and the Stock Markets

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, May 12th, 2020 - 33 comments

In this time of uncertainty when mass unemployment beckons you would expect that stock exchanges would be plummeting. But think again. Because they seem to be doing fine.

Covid-19: down to L2 Thursday

Written By: - Date published: 4:37 pm, May 11th, 2020 - 44 comments

In the ongoing press conference (RNZ): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a staggered move into level 2 starting on Thursday, with schools and bars reopening later and groups limited to 10 people. and She said retail, malls, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and other public spaces including playgrounds and gyms would be able to reopen on […]

Covid19 is a bastard

Written By: - Date published: 9:25 am, May 11th, 2020 - 128 comments

We are heading towards decision time. Does Aotearoa New Zealand loosen up and head back to a semi normal life?

Parker gives Bridges a lesson in constitutional law

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, May 9th, 2020 - 175 comments

In a Facebook Live event David Parker has schooled Simon Bridges on basic principles of constitutional law. And it appears that Bridges demand that legally privileged advice be handed over is heading to the Privileges Committee.

Bridges pulls a stunt

Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, May 7th, 2020 - 93 comments

Simon Bridges threw two stunts yesterday, firstly threatening to try and summons senior Public Servants to publicise confidential legal advice and then by attacking Dr Ashley Blomfield for not answering emails quickly enough despite the existence of a pandemic which the country appears to be handling pretty well.

The Green Party’s proposal on essential workers’ pay

Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, May 6th, 2020 - 45 comments

Low-wage essential workers are getting New Zealand through this crisis and continue to do so. They went to work when the rest of us were told to stay away – and people would be horrified to hear many of them barely earn enough to live on.

Top ten things we have learned already

Written By: - Date published: 7:49 am, May 6th, 2020 - 53 comments

The top ten things that the Covid pandemic has taught us as a country.

Roger Douglas attacks economic privilege and inequality

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, May 5th, 2020 - 261 comments

Roger Douglas has reverted to his socialist roots by going back on his pro market mantra and criticising the economic privilege and inequality that he helped create.

The Post Covid Blues

Written By: - Date published: 2:01 pm, May 4th, 2020 - 26 comments

No new COVID 19 cases today!

UPDATE: No change to Level 2, decision in a week.

What would President Biden do?

Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, May 4th, 2020 - 59 comments

With President Trump doing what we all expected, and killing 67,000 people and counting through chronic poor leadership, and utterly ruining the U.S. economy as well, it’s time to look at what policies the alternative candidate has on offer.

Rebuild better post COVID

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 2nd, 2020 - 46 comments

A Guest blog from E tū Assistant National Secretary, Annie Newman. “Democracy creates a space for the market, civil society and the government but it doesn’t guarantee a balance between these spheres. That is government’s role. Right now, there is an opportunity for our government to do more than protect the future of business; it can address the imbalance in our democracy where the market dominates the agenda.”

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

No feed items found.
No feed items found.

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-05-20T00:11:45+00:00