Hone and the holidays act

Written By: - Date published: 9:57 pm, November 17th, 2010 - 23 comments
Categories: workers' rights - Tags: ,

Who would have thought that while Hone was talking up Matt McCarten in Mana the other day he was getting ready to vote with National and Act to undermine Kiwi workers’ annual leave and sick leave rights?

23 comments on “Hone and the holidays act ”

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  1. Colonial Viper 1
    17 November 2010 at 10:25 pm

    Not sure if it is reasonable for us to expect Hone to start voting against his party at every turn at this stage. Yes it would be a nice show of defiance and it would give us more to speculate on re: him and Matt McCarten working together, but Hone still needs to turn up and work with his Maori Party colleagues on a daily basis and probably doesn’t feel like being completely ostracised quite yet.

    • felix 1.1
      17 November 2010 at 10:37 pm

      True enough, but the real question is why didn’t he walk 2 years ago?

      • Jim Nald 1.1.1
        18 November 2010 at 12:08 am

        True. I have more respect for parliamentarians who walk the talk.

        Btw, I was so traumatised after hearing the sound file posted of the Morning Report interviews. Took me 6 hours to recover and now settling back into commenting.

        • felix 1.1.1.1
          18 November 2010 at 12:49 am

          Understandable. Hearing Key on a proper news outlet being asked proper questions, that alone must have been a bit of shock.

          • Tigger 1.1.1.1.1
            18 November 2010 at 8:02 am

            So how does McCarten feel about Harawira’s vote here? How wonderful to be endorsed by someone clearly opposed to fair terms and conditions for Kiwi workers.

            • Lanthanide 1.1.1.1.1.1
              18 November 2010 at 10:23 am

              I think Matt would understand how politics works, and therefore wouldn’t be taking it personally.

      • Lanthanide 1.1.2
        18 November 2010 at 10:22 am

        I think as being a member of the party cozying up to National, he’s in a much better position to walk away now, than he was back then. Now he can say “look what National have made us do”, whereas before all he could do is predict that bad scary things would happen. Now he’s got proof, and therefore more credibility.

  2. Eddie 2
    17 November 2010 at 10:46 pm

    very interesting to see how hone reacted to the question of whether he would rule out working with mccarten in a party in the future:

    ‘I won’t rule it out because what idiot would rule out the future?’

  3. deemac 3
    17 November 2010 at 11:12 pm

    nothing Hone does should surprise anyone – he has become a joke, talking tough then voting for laws that attack the weakest in society.
    In the UK, some LibDem MPs (usually wimps) are refusing to vote for the increases in student fees. Have they got more spine than tough guy Hone?
    captcha: embarrass – too true!

  4. ron 4
    18 November 2010 at 6:36 am

    Hone is a member of a party that decided to team up with the Tories. He went with them. That’s all you need to know. The rest is bluster and bullshit so long as he continues to support this filthy government by staying in the MP

    • Craig Glen Eden 4.1
      18 November 2010 at 7:55 am

      So true ron and what’s more he is a racist red neck with a huge ego and one things foreshore he is not the workers friend or some amazing left leaning politician that is being constrained by his party, like some seem to think.

  5. Shona 5
    18 November 2010 at 10:00 am

    The sound of pennies dropping with an ever more audible thud! on the Standard .
    I’m liking today so far.

  6. Nick C 6
    18 November 2010 at 10:37 am

    “Undermine Kiwi workers’ annual leave rights?”

    Oh yes, so following this logic I suppose that the following would also be true:

    1) Being able to choose not to vote undermines your right to participate in the democratic process
    2) Being able to choose not to speak undermines your right to freedom of speech
    3) Being able to choose to not join a union undermines your right to join a union

    • Lanthanide 6.1
      18 November 2010 at 12:19 pm

      None of the examples you have given have the same relationship context as worker-employer does. In that relationship, the employer can effectively ‘choose’ for the worker that the worker is going to sacrifice their 4th week. No, this is not *supposed* to happen, but it will happen.

      That’s only part of the act anyway, the other stuff deals with turning sick leave from days to hours, which impacts on people who work 4×10 hour days as now they get 4 days off a year (40 hours), not 5 days (50 hours) under the current wording of the legislation, so this is an actual reduction in sick leave provision for this person.

      • mcflock 6.1.1
        18 November 2010 at 2:05 pm

        “3) Being able to choose to not join a union undermines your right to join a union”

        Actually, that one is not as absurd as I think you hoped the other two were.
        It is the justification for practices like compulsory unionism and closed shops – the concept being that unless all workers were united the employer could play union against non-union, either via scab labour or just by matching non-union offers to union awards and thereby encouraging freeloading to weaken the power of the union.

        Just saying…

    • grumpy 6.2
      18 November 2010 at 12:34 pm

      It’s a matter of power stupid, I can see the lefties argument, not that I necessarily agree with it.

  7. grumpy 7
    18 November 2010 at 11:07 am

    I think Hone’s association with Matt has more to do with a shared sense of anarchy than any “left” or “right” leaning. They are both what the establishment (left or right) would term “loose cannons”. as such, they draw respect from both the left and the right and their shared political views are quite unpredictable.

    • Lanthanide 7.1
      18 November 2010 at 12:19 pm

      I don’t think Hone draws much respect from the right, actually.

      • grumpy 7.1.1
        18 November 2010 at 12:32 pm

        Probably correct, but the Harawira family has some pretty right wing attitudes (but more anarchaic). Matt certainly attracts support from some on the right where he is respected as a “put your money where your mouth is” type. Unlike Labour who seem to be a bunch of righties posing as left.

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