wages

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Budget: corporate “charity” not the solution to Feeding the Kids

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, May 15th, 2013 - 24 comments

Thursday’s budget is likely to make businesses central to blunting the edge of child poverty.  Campbell Live is concerned about the marginalisation of skilled community organisations.  Harawira has delayed the reading of his Feed the Kids Bill & argues for the state to play a stronger role.

John Key’s disaster capitalism

Written By: - Date published: 1:07 pm, May 9th, 2013 - 31 comments

The latest Household Labour Force Employment statistics are out, and on the surface, look good for John and Bill.  But this is driven by improved employment in Canterbury over the last quarter.  Grant Robertson says, “Disaster recovery is not a plan for jobs”.

Warehouse adopts living wage

Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, May 8th, 2013 - 66 comments

The Warehouse has adopted a policy of paying a living wage of $18.50-$20 an hour for longer-term employees. It’s a really positive move and The Warehouse is to be congratulated. It’ll cost about $2.5m a year, or 5% of profits. As we’ve seen in the NZ Power debate, it’s a rare thing for major companies to look beyond their balancesheets to the community they exist within. Now, who’s next?

Happy International Workers’ Day – have a pay cut

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, May 1st, 2013 - 64 comments

The Nats have chosen International Workers’ Day as the day that legislation allowing employers to slash youth wages takes effect. According to the Same Work Same Pay campaign “Youth rates failed to create jobs in 1990 when youth unemployment reached an all time high” and “the burden of the Government’s failure to drive job growth is now being put on young people”. Protest action is planned.

We would love to see wages drop

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, April 27th, 2013 - 5 comments

Key said “we would love to see wages drop”. Sure enough National’s anti-worker employment Bill is designed to have that effect, as stated in a Cabinet briefing paper.

Massive changes to employment legislation announced today

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, April 26th, 2013 - 139 comments

The changes announced today to employment law represent the most serious attack on the rights of working people to a fair go since 1991. As I wrote on this blog that the Bill will reduce the Employment Relations Act to a farce and the result will be wages are driven down and employment agreements broken […]

Telecom’s little dictator

Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, April 16th, 2013 - 23 comments

Telecom’s $1.3 million a year CEO has announced a pay freeze. Says workers who don’t like it should quit. The rich fuck’s already sacked a thousand workers, now he thinks he can dictate the terms of employment contracts. I’ve got news for you, arsehole. Employment contracts are bargains between worker and employer, not diktats from rich dickheads.

True Blue Worker Hate

Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, April 9th, 2013 - 37 comments

Any day now the Government will announce more changes to the Employment Relations Act.  These changes will drive down wages and undermine the conditions of all workers.  They will also remove the small amount of protection most cleaners and hospitality workers get when the business they are working for loses a contract to another contractor. […]

Youth rates – good and bad employers

Written By: - Date published: 11:28 am, April 7th, 2013 - 32 comments

The Nats’ youth rate wages (“for when the ‘minimum’ wage just isn’t low enough”) come in to effect next month. Some of the big youth employers are making their intentions known. You may wish to vote with your wallet.

Good for the goose

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, April 2nd, 2013 - 90 comments

As you know, the Right says more money incentivises harder work. John Key felt he wasn’t working very hard when he first became PM on a net $250,000 a year, so he gave himself tax cuts and pay rises worth $100 a day. Just look at the results! But I’m confused: why’s he cutting our pay with youth wages, higher Kiwisaver, and higher student loan repayments?

The wage gap and the productivity lie

Written By: - Date published: 11:42 am, March 28th, 2013 - 23 comments

New figures show that the wage gap with Australia is still increasing. National has nothing to offer but useless policies and excuses, while the captains of industry trot out the old productivity lie again.

NRT – National: Restoring discrimination

Written By: - Date published: 1:57 pm, March 23rd, 2013 - 7 comments

I/S at No Right Turn on youth rates…

Good employer

Written By: - Date published: 12:26 pm, March 15th, 2013 - 13 comments

Bravo to TONZU, the first employers to sign up for the living wage for all its workers.

Derisory minimum wage

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, February 27th, 2013 - 90 comments

The minimum wage should be at least $15 per hour. A living wage is estimated at $18.40 per hour. So what have the Nats done? Raised the minimum wage by $0.25 per hour to $13.75. It’s a derisory increase. Even their own supporters think so.

“There is Power in a Union”

Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, February 18th, 2013 - 80 comments

Unions have been under concerted attack for several decades. Though weakened, they still produce results for workers. NZ Teachers’ Unions act on sound research, aiming to provide a quality and fair education system for all Kiwis. Global federations are campaigning against anti-worker corporates, like DHL.

The elite’s excuse for opposing a living wage

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, February 15th, 2013 - 66 comments

Don’t you love hearing the rich say the working poor can’t have more pay? The faux concern that higher wages cost jobs from the same people who support huge executive pay packets and tax cuts? If you really believed higher wages meant fewer jobs, you would cut the CEO’s pay in half, not dick around over a few dollars an hour for real workers.

Irony overload as English calls some bosses greedy

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, February 15th, 2013 - 22 comments

Irony meters everywhere pegged their meters as Bill English accused some bosses of being “greedy”, and not paying their staff enough. Hey Double Dipton – those greedy bosses? – they’re just following your example…

Espiner on wages

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, February 15th, 2013 - 141 comments

For those of you who’ve missed it Colin Espiner is back on the NZ interwebz with a new Stuff blog, the (rather earthily titled) Bull-Dust. Colin was a bit of a pioneer of journalist blogging in New Zealand. He was, I believe, the first Gallery journalist to run a proper blog and certainly the first to get in amongst it in the comments sections.

$18.40 an hour to live, not just exist

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, February 14th, 2013 - 89 comments

The Living Wage Coalition has released the results of their research, calculating that a wage of $18.40 is needed for workers and their families to have a decent life and participate in society. About 40% of workers currently earn less. The pressure is now on bosses of businesses and public bodies to pay the living wage or explain why they deserve a decent life but their workers don’t.

Key Living Wage: “A matter for them”

Written By: - Date published: 5:49 pm, February 11th, 2013 - 26 comments

John Key, as expected, failed to take any sort of lead – or even fast following – on the Living Wage campaign. It’s “a matter for them” – businesses and workers – not something for a mere Prime Minister to be interested in. He thinks it’s nice if businesses pay more as they can afford it, but obviously doesn’t see higher wages as a priority.

For a living wage

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, February 11th, 2013 - 175 comments

The living wage campaign is announcing this week the results of its study into the pay that a family needs to afford the basics for a decent life in New Zealand. It’ll be around $18-$20 an hour, which is more than 40% of workers get. I look forward to the proposal receiving strong support from the parties of the Left – the Left has always said a well-paying job is better than welfare.

Nats’ low wage economy hollowing us out

Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, February 8th, 2013 - 42 comments

The Nats were elected on a promise of a high wage economy. When it became clear that they were achieving the opposite, they tried to spin a disaster into a “competitive advantage”. And so in the real world the exodus to Australia continues. Now it’s affecting even our naval capability.

Novopay going from bad to worse

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, February 7th, 2013 - 103 comments

Mr Fixit Steven Joyce has been handed the Novopay fiasco, and the first pay round under his watch is the worst yet. Teachers are currently owed almost $12 Million in missing wages. Is this a conspiracy, or just a good old fashioned cock up?

Key’s brighter future

Written By: - Date published: 11:16 am, January 24th, 2013 - 8 comments

“I’d love to see wages drop”. Remember when John Key  said that? Well now our glorious PM is getting all excited about how we can attract investment with our low wages and lack of employment protections.

You say ‘flexible labour market’, I say ‘workers’ rights’

Written By: - Date published: 9:28 am, January 24th, 2013 - 35 comments

So John Key says Hollywood likes New Zealand because of weak unions, low fringe benefit costs and the ‘flexible labour market’.

In other words they can get their wage slaves to work longer for less with fewer complaints.

Port workers show how its done

Written By: - Date published: 8:07 am, December 17th, 2012 - 22 comments

You have to respect how the Ports of Auckland workers stood staunch in the face of the bosses’ attempt to contract out their jobs, without support from the ‘leftwing’ mayor and against an expensive PR effort. They’re still getting their own back. PoAL has just been fined for employing a strikebreaker. And, in Lyttelton, wharfies have started a smart new campaign.

Advocacy activism in precarious times

Written By: - Date published: 5:31 pm, December 11th, 2012 - 25 comments

In these troubling times, it was uplifting to see the flax-roots, practical and collaborative action at the Onehunga Recession Busting rally for beneficiaries today.  Volunteers in front of the WINZ office in Onehunga Mall, are giving support and assistance to those most in need.

A solution to the Novopay fiasco

Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, November 30th, 2012 - 33 comments

I have a suggestion.

NRT: Absolute insanity

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, November 16th, 2012 - 36 comments

No Right Turn on Novopay and the sacking of payroll staff.

Nats in the bunker of stupid

Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, November 13th, 2012 - 16 comments

The bunker of stupid is where you go to hide from facts you don’t like. John Key is there, hiding from the latest record unemployment figures. Joining him today is Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew, reportedly denying the rapidly increasing gender pay gap in NZ.

Jobs and wages

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, November 13th, 2012 - 9 comments

While Audrey Young was giving the Key cabinet a glowing report card yesterday as they lurch from crisis to crisis (so many crises the Novopay scandal can’t make the front pages after 3 months of stuff ups), the economy continued to struggle.