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notices and features - Date published:
5:30 pm, July 13th, 2022 - 29 comments
Categories: Daily review -
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Former airline boss, Christopher Luxon, has been talking the country down a lot recently.
Apparently, we are inward looking and fearful (the smiling PM is on her fifth trade/diplomatic trip in as many weeks). Apparently, Kiwis are sitting around the dining table tonight, concerned (they're not, the ones he's talking to are in Rarotonga or Wanaka). And apparently, businesses are soft and addicted to government support (yet at the same time the government doesn't support them enough).
Not only does former airline boss, Christopher Luxon, speak in boardroom jargon, he speaks in contradictions, and speaks negatively.
It's the last one which he will have to ditch most urgently if he wants to become NZ boss because talking down to the country doesn't work. Kiwis don't like to be told they are scared, soft, and inward looking.
The media to their credit have asked former airline boss, Christopher Luxon, about his gloomy comments, but right now he doesn't seem to be getting the right advice because he doubles down at all of his many stand ups.
I am not unhappy about his negative style because it contrasts so well with the positive style of Jacinda Ardern.
Bad language warning.
Lee Camp ask the most silly question, how will the world end…
Health Minister Andrew Little has a pop at the Nurses Association, describing them as talking with a 'forked tongue'.
This was either a political blunder, or a very calculated and high stakes attack.
The snide forked tongue jab is very rich.
Pay equity negotiations started in 2018 and from the get-go it was understood that when settled back pay would be due.
Little needs to get better advisors. Ones that tell him to stop trying to drive a wedge between nurses and the public.
Ian Powell wrote a piece earlier this month which had a pop at Little, including around the pay equity talks.
"And he is getting stuck into the NZ Nurses Organisation, accusing the union of reneging on a deal on pay equity. Simply not true. The “deal” was agreed to by two negotiating teams, but still required ratification. Following membership feedback, NZNO identified two obstacles to ratification which required resolution. That is not reneging; it is the part of the process called ratification. As a former union leader, Little knows this well."
"Little needs to get better advisors. Ones that tell him to stop trying to drive a wedge between nurses and the public."
Interestingly Ian Powell also said this:
"Little’s poor performance has made him a ministerial liability. A big factor behind this is his failure to recognise the importance of relationships in public health systems."
That is what is really hard to stomach. I had high hopes when Little was appointed.
Union man, seemed to have a degree of 'relatability', heart in the right place…
His deliberate melding of wage negotiation and pay equity settlements to imply nurses were greedy was duplicitious, now this denial that large parts of his workforce feel in crisis. All in the shadow of the pandemic.
David Clark the first MInister of Health was told 5 years ago there was a serious work force shortage. This was before the pandemic.
They hold a worthless enquiry into Mental Health (how many have their been now?) rather than just getting on and hiring/training more staff.
The set up a Cancer Agency ( things have got worse, surgery for cancer being delayed because of the Health workforce shortage).
Then in the middle of a pandemic, rather than spending his every waking hour developing and implementing a plan to increase the workforce, they re-structure the health system, paying Earnst and Young Consultants millons of dollars
This is a massive failure and Little needs to resign.
Do these people not realize what a health system is? Its nurses, Drs, and allied health professionals.
Yea…I had wondered about you. Good to see where you really are. I will keep that in mind.
Andrew Little has called out their union negotiators, not the nurses Pat.
+1 Patricia Bremner
"…not the nurses Pat."
I think you mean 'not the nurses Anker'
Reneged on a deal agreed to in December 2021
"it is very unusual for a union to re-litigate terms of settlement that they have already signed up to"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300566043/nurses-organisation-uturns-on-pay-equity-agreement-health-minister-says
"And he is getting stuck into the NZ Nurses Organisation, accusing the union of reneging on a deal on pay equity. Simply not true.
The “deal” was agreed to by two negotiating teams, but still required ratification. Following membership feedback, NZNO identified two obstacles to ratification which required resolution.
That is not reneging; it is the part of the process called ratification. As a former union leader, Little knows this well."
New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 22 December 2021
"The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is pleased to advise that it has today signed an Agreement in Principle to settle its Nursing Pay Equity claim for the NZNO and PSA members who work in district health boards (DHBs).
NZNO Industrial Services Manager Glenda Alexander said this settlement is of historical significance because it corrects the long-standing sex-based undervaluation of nursing work.
“This Pay Equity agreement will be absolutely life-changing for many of our members.
“It has been the result of countless hours of data collection and analysis – and then figuring out how it all translates to new pay rates. It is fantastic to finally see that tremendous effort coming to fruition.
“It will do wonders for the future of the profession as well, because it sets a positive pathway for recruitment in years to come.”
https://www.nzno.org.nz/about_us/media_releases/artmid/4731/articleid/6430/nursing-pay-equity-agreed-in-principle
But didn't that still require ratification?
The agreement was signed, then they reneged, hence the Minister's remarks "it is very unusual for a union to re-litigate terms of settlement that they have already signed up to"
Signing an agreement doesn't mean it is ratified. That's the point Ian Powell was making. It's also not how other commentors here are describing it.
Little seems to have had a pop at all and sundry in recent times, including Pharmac, rural health professionals and general practices, Dr John Bonning, and now the Nurses Association. It's strange behaviour for a Minister of Health.
They committed themselves to it when they signed it. Minister Little doesn't suffer fools easily. Sure looks like some needed pulling up.
"They committed themselves to it when they signed it."
No, they didn't. They committed to taking the agreement to ratification. That's the process, and as Ian Powell said, Andrew Little knows that. Little attacking all and sundry is not helpful.
Yeah they did. They were never promised full backpay, yet the NZNO were very happy with the agreement in Dec 2021. The Minister didn't attack all and sundry, as Patricia pointed out @ 3.1.1.1.2 he "called out their union negotiators, not the nurses"
Louis, please give evidence of your assertion "They were never promised full backpay".
Plus as been said a few times now, whatever was signed DID have to be ratified by the union members.
"Health Minister Andrew Little says nurses were never promised back pay"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300569099/nurses-consider-going-to-era-over-broken-promise-in-pay-equity-deal
"There is a binding agreement in place between the parties, and it should be honoured”
See link @ 3.1.2
Well, certainly seems like it. And yes re Andrew Little.
https://twitter.com/Judy89142108/status/1546980046975672320
ffs
https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1546878911639871490
Ah! A true English Gentleman …. 'shanked' (in the back!) by immigrants?
How fascist pigs roll.
https://twitter.com/Paparoa3/status/1547133883669692416
Eh? What do you mean this is how facist pigs roll.
Oink oink,the trough is over at the daily blog I'm afraid.