Unions

Lousy propaganda from the Herald

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:23 am, August 31st, 2010 - 9 comments

The Herald’s top story today screams “Strikers’ Helpless Victims”.

But it turns out that staff have been suspended.

I guess that doesn’t fit the Herald’s class war perspective.

Sacked 90 day worker wins justice

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 1:50 pm, August 25th, 2010 - 17 comments

Heather Smith, the pharmacy worker who was sacked unfairly under the 90 day fire at will law and featured in a recent advert for the campaign has won a CTU-backed case against her employer in the Employment Court.

Unions launch name and shame

Written By: r0b - Date published: 7:09 am, August 13th, 2010 - 144 comments

John Key challenged the unions to “put up or shut up”. So they’re going to put up. The CTU has launched a campaign to name and shame businesses that are abusing the fire at will (90 day probation) bill. It’s a campaign based around personal stories. Heather Smith tells the first of many…

Workers and Dear John

Written By: r0b - Date published: 7:34 am, July 28th, 2010 - 35 comments

National is making a total mess of industrial relations. Two different news items yesterday tell the same story: the unions are angry, and the PPTA teachers are angry. Nats beware. Nice Mr Key could so quickly become Dear John…

Closing the wage gap

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:44 am, May 19th, 2010 - 5 comments

Unions are closing the wage gap in the oil industry using collective action

Meanwhile the government is preparing to give rich individuals tax cuts and has been eroding the rights of workers.

From bad to worse for workers

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 2:18 pm, May 4th, 2010 - 11 comments

While John’s off playing soldiers, things are getting worse and worse for Kiwi workers. Wages are falling for the first time in a decade. The average hourly wage was $25.80 when National came to power. Now, it’s $25.30. I had hoped unemployment would start falling about now but the signs are discouraging. Only unionised workers able to protect themselves from the storm.

Protection for workers in hard times

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:00 am, May 3rd, 2010 - 32 comments

Darien Fenton’s Redundancy Protection Bill is before the House this week (provided National doesn’t cancel Private Members’ Day again). The Bill will give all working Kiwis some income protection if they lose their jobs, like people get in other developed countries. You can help make it happen.

Anyone else make a connection?

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 12:34 pm, April 16th, 2010 - 34 comments

Last year, Telecom screws over its engineers. Decides to make them dependent contractors. EPMU wins real jobs for most of them. Better contract conditions for others. But a sh*tload of experienced engineers say screw Telecom and leave the industry. Then the faults start. XT becomes a laughingstock. Customers leave in droves. Next, profit warning.

Unions call for secret ballots for lockouts

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:40 am, February 26th, 2010 - 46 comments

If National is going to legislate democratic procedures for unions taking industrial action, aren’t they bound by consistency to do the same for employers?

Requiring a secret ballot of shareholders before lockouts are allowed would be a good start.

National-style standards and Key’s teacher trap

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 1:00 pm, February 15th, 2010 - 38 comments

When the Government came under fire over National Standards John Key was quick to raise the anti-union bogey. The old stereotypes are certainly still strong in National, but they have led Key into a trap. What might have worked for Muldoon or Maggie in the past won’t work now for a number of reasons.

The 59,000 failures of John Phillip Key

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:31 am, February 5th, 2010 - 48 comments

Nearly a year ago, John Key, shaken by the first whispers of disquiet over his government’s month-long holiday at the height of an economic crisis (whispers that would later grow into cries of ‘Do Nothing’ Key), decided to hold the Prime Minister’s Jobs Summit. This would not be a talk-fest, it would be a ‘do-fest’ […]

The wage freeze is dripping

Written By: lprent - Date published: 11:06 am, December 16th, 2009 - 1 comment

Over at FairDeal, NZEI have announced that the support staff in schools have managed to get a wage increase. The campaign by support staff members and the wider union has finally resulted in a settlement of the support staff collective agreement. There is now a $14 minimum rate for Grade A, a $14.62 minimum rate […]

Wages fall, except for union members

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:05 am, November 12th, 2009 - 42 comments

The Labour Cost Index tells us that most workers this year failed to get pay rises to match inflation in the past year. 52% got no increase. 4% got less than inflation (2%, represented by the green line on the graph). 1% even got pay cuts. That’s a dramatic change on a year ago. Well, so […]

Key’s divide and rule to cut wages

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:28 am, October 22nd, 2009 - 20 comments

John Key says that if school support staff want pay-rises then teachers should sacrifice the ones they bargained for. Tell him to get stuffed. I don’t see him and his rich mates handing back the hundreds of dollars a week each in tax-cuts that National gave. I don’t see Key or his buddies Mark Weldon and Rob Fyfe […]

Parliament pay dispute just the start

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:21 am, October 15th, 2009 - 9 comments

Non-political staff Parliamentary Service are in industrial action. They want to keep their redundancy provisions that were bargained for years ago and get pay into the collective. Right now HR decides their wages. They’re meant use this performance pay system but now they’re saying there’s no money and no cost of living adjustments. The pay […]