On Monday, Fonterra announced another round of job cuts, bringing layoffs to 750 for the year. Yesterday, their annual financial figures showed us why: profits were up, but revenue was down 15%, suggesting next year will be worse. So naturally, today we learn that their boss has given himself an 18% pay rise:
Fonterra’s chief executive received a pay rise of up to $770,000 last year, despite struggling milk prices and hundreds of his staff losing their jobs.
Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings’ salary for the year to July 31 was between $4.93 million and $4.94 million, it was revealed in the company’s annual result on Thursday.
That’s up to 18 per cent more then what he was paid in the year to July 31, 2014, pushing his hourly take home wage up to $1595.
New Zealand’s adult minimum wage is $14.75.
It would take someone on minimum wage more than two weeks work to earn what Spierings makes in an hour.
Or 26 years to earn his pay rise.
Sack lots of people. Make less money. Watch your shareholder / suppliers go to the wall due to low prices. Clearly that’s the sort of performance which demands a boatload of cash.
We often find advocates of CEO pay increases are quick to justify such increases while also being rather good at expressing why common wages should stay down.
The sad thing, is that Fonterra is a co -operative – the profits are supposed to be returned to the farmers. Instead they have this imported CEO who specialises in Mergers (why not value added services which is where fonterra should be going) and has got the farmers going into debt with low milk payouts, putting Kiwi workers on the dole with job cuts, while awarding himself a massive pay rise, when turnover is DOWN (not a good sign in a business) and probably lower taxes to the government. WELL DONE NOT!
Send him a message Fonterra farmers and employees and the public!
+100 Ditto
However “The sad thing is, that Fonterra is a co-operative….”
It’s a co-operative that’s been buggerised and buggerised by those highly paid ‘leaders’ (ahem) who tempted its members by allowing them to flog off returns for short term gain when times are good (as I understand it).
The farmers have one of those “one remove” closed governance systems where they vote for a committee who sort out the directors don’t they? Just a closed loop really.
Frankly if you have 17 people paid over a $1m and they didn’t prepare for all this I’d sack the lot of them .
The original idea of the Fonterra merger was to strengthen the export of consumer products so NZ captured the value added. Instead they’ve exported commodities and wasted money building up production in other countries to compete with the locals and well as building processing plants there?
Remember the $100m plus factory they lost control of in China – which is still there under local control now. Great gift from the NZ farmers.
Yep why sell milk powder for peanuts when you could be adding value and creating jobs) by converting into higher value items and making a much higher return and improving supply chain in those areas? Or Jump on the organics growing at an enormous rate of growth in consumer demand.
Nope apparently organic milk farmers get the same price as conventional milk through Fonterra (although the consumer has to pay a lot more for it).
A whistle-blower comes forward with an accusation of widespread market rigging (possibly involving billions of dollars over several years) and some would rather talk about the rugby?
Evidently, a number of citizens don’t care. And if we don’t care, surely we can’t expect anyone to act.
Carry on, nothing to see here. New episode of The Block starting next week. Red Peak anyone?
Hopefully, Little and Shaw are done talking about the flag, Green and Labour supporters are over Red Peak and their little tiff, so perhaps now we can work together and focus on the issues that really matter.
the nation shows our favorite wee dirty political rat in action – the ‘sick right’ in all its glory – spin like dirty shit water going down the toilet matty – you have never fooled me.
Totalitarianism Watch:
The assault on free speech in American universities continues.
by GLENN GREENWALD, The Intercept, 25 September 2015
There is no shortage of American pundits who love to denounce “PC” speech codes that restrict and punish the expression of certain ideas on college campuses. What these self-styled campus-free-speech crusaders typically — and quite tellingly — fail to mention is that the most potent such campaigns are often devoted to outlawing or otherwise punishing criticisms of Israel. The firing by the University of Illinois of Professor Steven Salatia for his “uncivil” denunciations of the Israeli war on Gaza — a termination that was privately condoned by Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin — is merely illustrative of this long–growing trend.
One of the most dangerous threats to campus free speech has been emerging at the highest levels of the University of California system, the sprawling collection of 10 campuses that includes UCLA and UC Berkeley. The university’s governing Board of Regents, with the support of University President Janet Napolitano and egged on by the state’s legislature, has been attempting to adopt new speech codes that — in the name of combating “anti-Semitism” — would formally ban various forms of Israel criticism and anti-Israel activism.
Under the most stringent such regulations, students found to be in violation of these codes would face suspension or expulsion. In July, it appeared that the Regents were poised to enact the most extreme version, but decided instead to push the decision off until September, when they instead would adopt non-binding guidelines to define “hate speech” and “intolerance.”
One of the Regents most vocally advocating for the most stringent version of the speech code is Richard Blum, the multi-millionaire defense contractor who is married to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. At a Regents meeting last week, reported the Los Angeles Times, Blum expressly threatened that Feinstein would publicly denounce the university if it failed to adopt far more stringent standards than the ones it appeared to be considering, and specifically demanded they be binding and contain punishments for students found to be in violation.
“We are living in a competitive world and people cannot be selfless, they have to be selfish. But the good news is that this is soft-wired and can be changed. Prayer, selfless service and meditation is the place to start.”
Ulluwishewa speaks with surety and with passion. His goal is to help people achieve transformation, individually and for a greater good. Through his studies he has noted a trend with people moving away from selfishness.
“People are now beginning to understand the consequences of consumerism and there are people that appreciate a simple life. The world is changing, the new spiritual revolution is coming from Western countries. One thing is that people are seeking happiness.”
And the question is there, does God exist? Ulluwishewa says that religion and being spiritual don’t have to mean that you believe in a God sitting on a cloud.
The next day, Shehi and the baby went home, and someone from the Department of Human Resources, the state child welfare agency, paid a visit. In recent years, Alabama authorities have been aggressive about removing newborns from the custody of mothers who abuse drugs, typically placing a baby with a relative or foster family under a safety plan that can continue for months or years. The social worker listened to Shehi and Sharpe’s story and concluded that theirs wasn’t one of those situations. “She said: ‘I understand the pain you are in, and I understand what’s going on. I won’t take the baby away,’ ” Sharpe recalled.
But one morning a few weeks later, when Shehi was back at her job in a nursing home and the baby was with a sitter, investigators from the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office showed up at the front desk with a warrant. She had been charged with “knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally” causing her baby to be exposed to controlled substances in the womb – a felony punishable in her case by up to 10 years in prison. The investigators led her to an unmarked car, handcuffed her and took her to jail.
Key and his ignorance really has to go ,everyday theres some cock up or another coming from this govt
Hes like a permanent state of stupidity like Muldoon over the springbok tour in the 80s
Can anyone seriously see him as leading this country as I for one wouldnt buy into any of what he makes us endure
Chaos for the young
Insecurity for the old
Fascist allegiance in the workplace and govt
No moral compass or understanding of the damage war does which makes him the epitome of the saying
Was going to quote something but what suits Key is “Hes a Bloody Fascist”
Well the only conclusion now is that the crown know they have no case against dotcom. So far two days of public grandstanding. So far not one shred of actual evidence of any actual crime. They up to page 50 of 250. So i guess they reckon that after ten more days of breathless exposure of sinppits drawn sans context from years of communications, we will all be convinced and the judge will be swayed by public opinion. Well i suppose its a plan when they have nothing else! good old tvnz helping with their multiple references to the “co-conspiretors” and assigning reporter who is totally ignorant of the technical details. But maby the lawyers at Sony who advised them not to participate in the action knew what they were about. We may have to forgo the pandas for a few years untill the public purse recovers.
EARTH to Co-leader Metiria Turei – ARE YOU RECEIVING? – OVER…..
I repeat ….
EARTH to Co-leader Metiria Turei – ARE YOU RECEIVING? – OVER…..
State your position please ….. over
Control to Green Squad – no response – should we send out a rescue?
Green squad to Control – yea/nah, hold off – coLeader Jimmy’s running the options
STANDBY
The State may try to stop some families having more children
Tolley acknowledged it would be a “huge step” for the state to start telling people that they could not have another child, but said it was “a conversation that New Zealanders, perhaps, need to have”.
Tolley did not rule out limiting or preventing some families from having another child, but said she would wait to see what the panel recommended in December.
It looks suspiciously like another distraction: Tory scum kill children with their blithering incompetence and vile prejudice, then pretend that the victims are asking for it.
Tories are walking adverts for post-natal abortion.
It’s a smokescreen: the trash need something to distract from their policies manslaughter, so they let Anne Tolley run her mouth, everyone gets excited, the manslaughter gets pushed down today’s list of headlines.
The Sabinist wing of the National Party will support anything that promises to legitimise their sick fantasies. They’re useful as a distraction, and nothing else: National’s owner/donors won’t fund the civil war they crave.
I’m going to stick my neck out and say that as long as it is done through educating and making it free to all then offering contraception to people at the troubled end of society is a good thing .
Part and parcel of the right wing self-serving lie that poverty is inevitable. That’s what it is. Wait, there’s more: it moves beyond victim-blaming into violence.
Anyone who collaborates in this vile fascism needs to be extradited to The Hague for human rights violations.
I did notice there was nothing said about getting men the chop .
Its cheaper easy and some of the drop kicks I’ve known that think its neat having kids all over the place would probably jump at it for a easy $10 k.
Just for the record I am totally opposed to forced sterilization.
What man slaughter are you on about ??
The two fallas i was thinking about are not victims and there not even that bad a people but they a boys in men’s bodies ,who don’t think that if the have a child they should care for them.
See if you can figure it out: why on Earth would anyone describe the National Party’s social and economic policies as manslaughter? Why oh why? Perhaps it’s all the deaths they cause.
Just another piece of fascist control by the Fuhrer state
If you cant afford kids you state should have the right to control you why should the rich support the poor blah blah and all the rest of it
Yeah right 2 crispies with your cuppa Ann? give me strength
“Last week’s announcement that Saudi Arabia — easily one of the world’s most brutally repressive regimes — was chosen to head a U.N. Human Rights Council panel provoked indignation around the world. That reaction was triggered for obvious reasons. Not only has Saudi Arabia executed more than 100 people already this year, mostly by beheading (a rate of 1 execution every two days), and not only is it serially flogging dissidents, but it is reaching new levels of tyrannical depravity as it is about to behead and then crucify the 21-year-old son of a prominent regime critic, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was convicted at the age of 17 of engaging in demonstrations against the government.”
This is not the story we are told. Instead we read story after story like this latest one from the Guardian, claiming that 140 years of job creation show that jobs will always be created. And yet the ongoing trend of such articles is to mostly ignore the potentially unnecessary nature of the jobs themselves, the level of skill involved to perform them, and the lower pay they can command than the jobs they are replacing. Take for example the following excerpt:
Their conclusion is unremittingly cheerful: rather than destroying jobs, technology has been a “great job-creating machine”. Findings by Deloitte such as a fourfold rise in bar staff since the 1950s or a surge in the number of hairdressers this century suggest to the authors that technology has increased spending power, therefore creating new demand and new jobs.
So there’s no need to worry about technological unemployment, because there will always be a need for more bar-backs and haircuts? Is that bar-back better off no longer having a manufacturing job paying $40,000 per year and instead having a job paying $20,000 per year in the service industry? Is that an important job to the human species, bringing empty glasses from Point A to Point B? Is the job entirely voluntary or done out of need for income? And is this a job that just can’t possibly be done by a machine, or outright eliminated? Ever? Is the service industry really safe?
Those who moved into optimal jobs showed significant improvement in mental health compared to those who remained unemployed. Those respondents who moved into poor-quality jobs showed a significant worsening in their mental health compared to those who remained unemployed.
So, getting people off of unemployment does help them but only if it’s a good job otherwise it’s doing them harm. Something else this government should be charged with.
When you have the US and European governments now say, they want to talk with and keep this man in power for a transition time, I can confidently say, the “west” has totally lost the plot and is prepared to make deals with the worst of other parties there are:
This will give both Nusra Front and ISIS the perfect reason to recruit even more disillusioned to join the war, and also to have bombs blow up in places in “the west”. How stupid is “the west”, how damned ignorant are Obama, Merkel and others, they are digging their own graves, I fear.
“The west” is the Roman Empire of modern days, and its empire is numbered by days. l also have NO time for Putin and his agenda, who some here seem to support, it is pure madness, what is going on. Denial is the rule of the day, prepare for the worst.
Another interview with western media, where a ruthless dictator defends himself and his military and police, I cannot believe, that European governments, the US and so want to talk with those supporting him:
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The international challenge confronting Australia today is unparalleled, at least since the 1940s. It requires what the late Brendan Sargeant, a defence analyst, called strategic imagination. We need more than shrewd economic manoeuvring and a ...
This year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will take place as a fully hybrid conference in both Vienna and online from April 27 to May 2. This year, I'll join the event on site in Vienna for the full week and I've already picked several sessions I plan ...
Here’s a book that looks not in at China but out from China. David Daokui Li’s China’s World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict is a refreshing offering in that Li is very much ...
The New Zealand National Party has long mastered the art of crafting messaging that resonates with a large number of desperate, often white middle-class, voters. From their 2023 campaign mantra of “getting our country back on track” to promises of economic revival, safer streets, and better education, their rhetoric paints ...
A global contest of ideas is underway, and democracy as an ideal is at stake. Democracies must respond by lifting support for public service media with an international footprint. With the recent decision by the ...
It is almost six weeks since the shock announcement early on the afternoon of Wednesday 5 March that the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr, was resigning effective 31 March, and that in fact he had already left and an acting Governor was already in place. Orr had been ...
The PSA surveyed more than 900 of its members, with 55 percent of respondents saying AI is used at their place of work, despite most workers not being in trained in how to use the technology safely. Figures to be released on Thursday are expected to show inflation has risen ...
Be on guard for AI-powered messaging and disinformation in the campaign for Australia’s 3 May election. And be aware that parties can use AI to sharpen their campaigning, zeroing in on issues that the technology ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
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Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
New Zealand commemoration lead John McLeod said a small team, including members of the NZDF and the NZ Embassy, assisted in the covering up of remains that were exposed. ...
This Bill is a great opportunity to improve our system of government across all levels. Let’s make sure we get it right and give the public a say on a simple and enduring solution. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney Tech giant Google has just suffered another legal blow in the United States, losing a landmark antitrust case. This follows on from the company’s loss in a similar case last ...
Paddy GowerAmanda Luxon. I mean what can you say. Easter is a good time to publish my latest reckons at Stuff because without exaggeration or making too much of things, Amanda Luxon walks among us like Jesus but probably with better shoes.Jesus healed. How good is that? It’s really good, ...
How can an afternoon be long when it starts at one o’clock and finishes at half past three? Beauden thought about that as he stood at the back of the classroom and looked through the large window to the upper grounds where his colleague Monty Spiers was taking a phys ed ...
Alex Casey delves into the enduring success of The Artist’s Way, a self-help book beloved by everyone from retirees to famous rappers. On the video call, my mum is gesticulating so wildly while recounting all her recent creative endeavours that she knocks her cup of tea over a work-in-progress jigsaw ...
Feijoa scholar Kate Evans reviews the dish everybody raves about at Metro’s 2024 restaurant of the year, Forest. People have been telling me I need to try the deep-fried feijoa dessert at Forest for about three years now. I’m embarrassed it took me this long, but it takes a lot ...
Chef, author and reality television judge Colin Fassnidge takes us through his life in television. Colin Fassnidge is a huge television fan. He watches every blockbuster TV series the moment it drops and scores every single show on his Instagram account. It’s a habit that recently caught the attention of ...
Why are shops on Parnell Road allowed to open on Easter Sunday? It’s all thanks to an obsolete rule from the 1970s that’s been ‘frozen in time’.Originally published in 2023.Under our current trading laws, most stores are required to stay closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday (along ...
Yael Shochat, chef-owner of Auckland restaurant Ima Cuisine, shares the recipe for her hot cross buns – regularly voted among the best in the city.Originally published in 2019.HOT CROSS BUNSMakes 12You may use equal weights of pre-ground spices, but you’ll get a much better flavour if ...
Gràinne Moss knows she can’t tackle the final leg of one of the world’s toughest swimming challenges alone.In her quest to complete the Oceans Seven marathon challenge, 38 years after she began, she’s enlisted the help of two remarkable women – one barely out of her teens, and the other ...
By Susana Leiataua, RNZ National presenter There are calls for greater transparency about what the HMNZS Manawanui was doing before it sank in Samoa last October — including whether the New Zealand warship was performing specific security for King Charles and Queen Camilla. The Manawanui grounded on the reef off ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Labor increased its lead again in a YouGov poll, but Freshwater put the party ahead by just 50.3–49.7. This article also covers ...
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A new poem by Tusiata Avia. How to make a terrorist First make a whistling sound which is the sound of a bomb just before it lands on a house. Then make an exploding sound which is the sound of the bomb which kills a father, decapitates a mother, roasts ...
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Books editor Claire Mabey appraises all the Austen-adapted films from 1990 onwards to separate the delightful from the duds.For the purists, read our ranking of Jane Austen’s novels here.It is a truth universally acknowledged that not everything is created equal. Since 1990 there have been 12 attempts to ...
To arrive through the heavy red door of Margot in Newtown is to be invited to the best dinner party in town, hosted by the best friends you haven’t yet made. Table Service is a column about food and hospitality in Wellington, written by Nick Iles.Hospitality is a term ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 18 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Peter Dutton, now seriously on the back foot, has made an extraordinarily big “aspirational” commitment at the back end of this campaign. He says he wants to see a move to indexing personal income ...
Essay by Keith Rankin. Operation Gomorrah may have been the most cynical event of World War Two (WW2). Not only did the name fully convey the intent of the war crimes about to be committed, it, also represented the single biggest 24-hour murder toll for the European war that I ...
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Shrinking budgets and job insecurity means there are fewer opportunities for young journalists, and that’s bad news, especially in regional Australia, reports 360infoANALYSIS:By Jee Young Lee of the University of Canberra Australia risks losing a generation of young journalists, particularly in the regions where they face the closure ...
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http://www.norightturn.blogspot.co.nz
On Monday, Fonterra announced another round of job cuts, bringing layoffs to 750 for the year. Yesterday, their annual financial figures showed us why: profits were up, but revenue was down 15%, suggesting next year will be worse. So naturally, today we learn that their boss has given himself an 18% pay rise:
Fonterra’s chief executive received a pay rise of up to $770,000 last year, despite struggling milk prices and hundreds of his staff losing their jobs.
Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings’ salary for the year to July 31 was between $4.93 million and $4.94 million, it was revealed in the company’s annual result on Thursday.
That’s up to 18 per cent more then what he was paid in the year to July 31, 2014, pushing his hourly take home wage up to $1595.
New Zealand’s adult minimum wage is $14.75.
It would take someone on minimum wage more than two weeks work to earn what Spierings makes in an hour.
Or 26 years to earn his pay rise.
Sack lots of people. Make less money. Watch your shareholder / suppliers go to the wall due to low prices. Clearly that’s the sort of performance which demands a boatload of cash.
We often find advocates of CEO pay increases are quick to justify such increases while also being rather good at expressing why common wages should stay down.
The sad thing, is that Fonterra is a co -operative – the profits are supposed to be returned to the farmers. Instead they have this imported CEO who specialises in Mergers (why not value added services which is where fonterra should be going) and has got the farmers going into debt with low milk payouts, putting Kiwi workers on the dole with job cuts, while awarding himself a massive pay rise, when turnover is DOWN (not a good sign in a business) and probably lower taxes to the government. WELL DONE NOT!
Send him a message Fonterra farmers and employees and the public!
Evidently, with the ever increasing growth in CEO salaries, we’re OK with it.
Little will change unless a good number make it an issue.
+100 saveNZ
+100 Ditto
However “The sad thing is, that Fonterra is a co-operative….”
It’s a co-operative that’s been buggerised and buggerised by those highly paid ‘leaders’ (ahem) who tempted its members by allowing them to flog off returns for short term gain when times are good (as I understand it).
Paula Bennett was in Indonesia Sept 8th opening another new fonterror plant….
Here is the link http://www.fonterra.com/nz/en/hub+sites/news+and+media/media+releases/fonterra+opens+manufacturing+facility+in+indonesia/fonterra+opens+manufacturing+facility+in+indonesia
The farmers have one of those “one remove” closed governance systems where they vote for a committee who sort out the directors don’t they? Just a closed loop really.
Frankly if you have 17 people paid over a $1m and they didn’t prepare for all this I’d sack the lot of them .
The original idea of the Fonterra merger was to strengthen the export of consumer products so NZ captured the value added. Instead they’ve exported commodities and wasted money building up production in other countries to compete with the locals and well as building processing plants there?
Remember the $100m plus factory they lost control of in China – which is still there under local control now. Great gift from the NZ farmers.
Yep why sell milk powder for peanuts when you could be adding value and creating jobs) by converting into higher value items and making a much higher return and improving supply chain in those areas? Or Jump on the organics growing at an enormous rate of growth in consumer demand.
Nope apparently organic milk farmers get the same price as conventional milk through Fonterra (although the consumer has to pay a lot more for it).
J
“A cultural failure, at a management level.”
A banking insider says some New Zealand banks made up to $1.5 million a day manipulating inter-bank interest rates.
Widespread rigging of the benchmark inter-bank BKBM rate, mirroring Europe’s Libor (London Inter-bank Offered Rate) scandal that rocked markets worldwide.
Sources claim manipulation in New Zealand dated from the 1990s.
“Over 20 years, we’re probably talking about billions of dollars”
But no domestic regulator has ever launched an investigation.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/72422535/banks-accused-of-raterigging-ripoff
A whistle-blower comes forward with an accusation of widespread market rigging (possibly involving billions of dollars over several years) and some would rather talk about the rugby?
Evidently, a number of citizens don’t care. And if we don’t care, surely we can’t expect anyone to act.
Carry on, nothing to see here. New episode of The Block starting next week. Red Peak anyone?
Hang on a minute….wasn’t Our Leader a big mover and shaker in the sector during this time?
Whew!
Luckily there is waay more important shit to occupy the minds of the nation….
Hopefully, Little and Shaw are done talking about the flag, Green and Labour supporters are over Red Peak and their little tiff, so perhaps now we can work together and focus on the issues that really matter.
Perhaps Shaw will see its actually quite easy to work with Key and will do so on matters that make sense.
Has a lot more chance to make a difference with the government that the perpetual opposition.
Considering the backlash, I think Shaw will think twice before working with National again.
Moreover, on more pressing matters, there would be little (if anything) where the two (National/Greens) would agree what the sensible approach is.
Wales has beaten England 28-25. Wow! Leeks among the Roses.
Brilliant, go for the seven and lose.
the nation shows our favorite wee dirty political rat in action – the ‘sick right’ in all its glory – spin like dirty shit water going down the toilet matty – you have never fooled me.
Totalitarianism Watch:
The assault on free speech in American universities continues.
by GLENN GREENWALD, The Intercept, 25 September 2015
There is no shortage of American pundits who love to denounce “PC” speech codes that restrict and punish the expression of certain ideas on college campuses. What these self-styled campus-free-speech crusaders typically — and quite tellingly — fail to mention is that the most potent such campaigns are often devoted to outlawing or otherwise punishing criticisms of Israel. The firing by the University of Illinois of Professor Steven Salatia for his “uncivil” denunciations of the Israeli war on Gaza — a termination that was privately condoned by Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin — is merely illustrative of this long–growing trend.
One of the most dangerous threats to campus free speech has been emerging at the highest levels of the University of California system, the sprawling collection of 10 campuses that includes UCLA and UC Berkeley. The university’s governing Board of Regents, with the support of University President Janet Napolitano and egged on by the state’s legislature, has been attempting to adopt new speech codes that — in the name of combating “anti-Semitism” — would formally ban various forms of Israel criticism and anti-Israel activism.
Under the most stringent such regulations, students found to be in violation of these codes would face suspension or expulsion. In July, it appeared that the Regents were poised to enact the most extreme version, but decided instead to push the decision off until September, when they instead would adopt non-binding guidelines to define “hate speech” and “intolerance.”
One of the Regents most vocally advocating for the most stringent version of the speech code is Richard Blum, the multi-millionaire defense contractor who is married to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. At a Regents meeting last week, reported the Los Angeles Times, Blum expressly threatened that Feinstein would publicly denounce the university if it failed to adopt far more stringent standards than the ones it appeared to be considering, and specifically demanded they be binding and contain punishments for students found to be in violation.
Read more…
https://theintercept.com/2015/09/25/dianne-feinstein-husband-threaten-univ-calif-demanding-ban-excessive-israel-criticism/
Nasa to announce major science finding from Mars on Tuesday.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-announce-mars-mystery-solved
… no coincidence that it’s two days before the release date of the Ridley Scott-directed The Martian.
That’s the highly rated film starring Matt Damon, in which he has to “Science the shit out of everything” in order to stay alive on Mars.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_martian/
The previews look pretty good.
Read the book last year. Incredible reading with maps inside the cover.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel)
Sounds like a remake (I have seen a movie with a similar theme but can’t recall its name).
I enjoyed this read:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/72248814/Palmerston-North-author-demystifies-spirituality
And the US takes one more step towards the scenario outlined in The handmaid’s Tale:
Shocking
Key and his ignorance really has to go ,everyday theres some cock up or another coming from this govt
Hes like a permanent state of stupidity like Muldoon over the springbok tour in the 80s
Can anyone seriously see him as leading this country as I for one wouldnt buy into any of what he makes us endure
Chaos for the young
Insecurity for the old
Fascist allegiance in the workplace and govt
No moral compass or understanding of the damage war does which makes him the epitome of the saying
Was going to quote something but what suits Key is “Hes a Bloody Fascist”
Kentucky politician claims he has a Constitutional right to receive gifts from lobbyists
If only Rodney “Perk-taker” Hide and John “Separate Cheques” Banks had thought of this brilliant scheme….
https://theintercept.com/2015/09/24/state-senator-files-lawsuit-says-ban-lobbyist-gifts-violates-freedom-speech/
Well the only conclusion now is that the crown know they have no case against dotcom. So far two days of public grandstanding. So far not one shred of actual evidence of any actual crime. They up to page 50 of 250. So i guess they reckon that after ten more days of breathless exposure of sinppits drawn sans context from years of communications, we will all be convinced and the judge will be swayed by public opinion. Well i suppose its a plan when they have nothing else! good old tvnz helping with their multiple references to the “co-conspiretors” and assigning reporter who is totally ignorant of the technical details. But maby the lawyers at Sony who advised them not to participate in the action knew what they were about. We may have to forgo the pandas for a few years untill the public purse recovers.
EARTH to Co-leader Metiria Turei – ARE YOU RECEIVING? – OVER…..
I repeat ….
EARTH to Co-leader Metiria Turei – ARE YOU RECEIVING? – OVER…..
State your position please ….. over
Control to Green Squad – no response – should we send out a rescue?
Green squad to Control – yea/nah, hold off – coLeader Jimmy’s running the options
STANDBY
Yes, becoming a worry….
Read somewhere she’ s overseas at a convention or on some fact finding mission. Whatever, she’s not in the country.
Make the world a better place.
Forcibly sterilise a Tory.
Was just looking at that.
The State may try to stop some families having more children
Tolley acknowledged it would be a “huge step” for the state to start telling people that they could not have another child, but said it was “a conversation that New Zealanders, perhaps, need to have”.
Tolley did not rule out limiting or preventing some families from having another child, but said she would wait to see what the panel recommended in December.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/72451962/state-may-try-to-stop-some-families-having-more-children
Thoughts?
It looks suspiciously like another distraction: Tory scum kill children with their blithering incompetence and vile prejudice, then pretend that the victims are asking for it.
Tories are walking adverts for post-natal abortion.
Scorn was poured upon former ACT MP David Garrett’s suggestion that bad parents be offered a fiscal incentive to get sterilised.
Wonder if Tolley will face the same disdain?
It’s a smokescreen: the trash need something to distract from their
policiesmanslaughter, so they let Anne Tolley run her mouth, everyone gets excited, the manslaughter gets pushed down today’s list of headlines.Alternatively, it’s another attempt to test the waters (to see if the public attitude has changed) and air the sterilization issue again.
The Sabinist wing of the National Party will support anything that promises to legitimise their sick fantasies. They’re useful as a distraction, and nothing else: National’s owner/donors won’t fund the civil war they crave.
I’m going to stick my neck out and say that as long as it is done through educating and making it free to all then offering contraception to people at the troubled end of society is a good thing .
yeah beginning with Garret..but charge him-
No on second thoughts, I’ll pay.
Part and parcel of the right wing self-serving lie that poverty is inevitable. That’s what it is. Wait, there’s more: it moves beyond victim-blaming into violence.
Anyone who collaborates in this vile fascism needs to be extradited to The Hague for human rights violations.
It’s time to get tough on Tory scum.
We already do that (education and provide free contraceptives).
Tolley is suggesting we go further, a discussion on forced sterilization.
How horrible.
The Nazis did this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_eugenics
Eugenics was also popular in NZ’s past history and still has a following today.
I did notice there was nothing said about getting men the chop .
Its cheaper easy and some of the drop kicks I’ve known that think its neat having kids all over the place would probably jump at it for a easy $10 k.
Just for the record I am totally opposed to forced sterilization.
Yes, you’d never actually do the manslaughter yourself. You just go in for a bit of supportive victim-blaming.
What man slaughter are you on about ??
The two fallas i was thinking about are not victims and there not even that bad a people but they a boys in men’s bodies ,who don’t think that if the have a child they should care for them.
See if you can figure it out: why on Earth would anyone describe the National Party’s social and economic policies as manslaughter? Why oh why? Perhaps it’s all the deaths they cause.
Just another piece of fascist control by the Fuhrer state
If you cant afford kids you state should have the right to control you why should the rich support the poor blah blah and all the rest of it
Yeah right 2 crispies with your cuppa Ann? give me strength
https://theintercept.com/2015/09/23/u-s-state-department-welcomes-news-close-ally-saudi-arabia-chosen-head-u-n-human-rights-council-panel/
“Last week’s announcement that Saudi Arabia — easily one of the world’s most brutally repressive regimes — was chosen to head a U.N. Human Rights Council panel provoked indignation around the world. That reaction was triggered for obvious reasons. Not only has Saudi Arabia executed more than 100 people already this year, mostly by beheading (a rate of 1 execution every two days), and not only is it serially flogging dissidents, but it is reaching new levels of tyrannical depravity as it is about to behead and then crucify the 21-year-old son of a prominent regime critic, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was convicted at the age of 17 of engaging in demonstrations against the government.”
we have become bizarro world.
+100
Everything You Think You Know About the History and Future of Jobs Is Likely Wrong
Otherwise known as the Rise of Bullshit Jobs.
Oh, and this bit:
So, getting people off of unemployment does help them but only if it’s a good job otherwise it’s doing them harm. Something else this government should be charged with.
when we are all baristas will anyone buy a coffee?
Nope, won’t be able to afford to.
Besides, baristas will be replaced by automated coffee dispensing stations.
that is post barista saturation society
When you have the US and European governments now say, they want to talk with and keep this man in power for a transition time, I can confidently say, the “west” has totally lost the plot and is prepared to make deals with the worst of other parties there are:
This will give both Nusra Front and ISIS the perfect reason to recruit even more disillusioned to join the war, and also to have bombs blow up in places in “the west”. How stupid is “the west”, how damned ignorant are Obama, Merkel and others, they are digging their own graves, I fear.
“The west” is the Roman Empire of modern days, and its empire is numbered by days. l also have NO time for Putin and his agenda, who some here seem to support, it is pure madness, what is going on. Denial is the rule of the day, prepare for the worst.
Another interview with western media, where a ruthless dictator defends himself and his military and police, I cannot believe, that European governments, the US and so want to talk with those supporting him:
More lies, lies and endless lies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2J33PIAQ1k
I fear this will be the answer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQI3EGN04r4
Shocking the ignorance of those in power and control, I give up hope for the future of humanity.