Pattern recognition

Written By: - Date published: 12:21 pm, September 30th, 2010 - 23 comments
Categories: class war, wages - Tags:

John Key tells a businesswoman he “would love to see wages drop“.
National makes sub-inflation minimum wage increase.
National makes no effort to bring unemployment back down. Unemployment chokes wage rises.
National attacks unions, the biggest driver of wage rises.
Wage gap with Australia widens
National opposes pay increases for teachers, medical techs, doctors,…
National sides with international corporate trying to keep Kiwi film wages down
Anyone else see a pattern?

Of course, it’s only conspiracy theorists and nut jobs who believe that the party funded and run by big business “would love to see wages drop”. Isn’t it?

23 comments on “Pattern recognition ”

  1. Wyndham 1

    News today that the Aussie firm McCains is to close it’s operation in Tasmania and enlarge it’s NZ operation in Hastings by about $20 million. Anyone see a connection here between wage rates in Oz being a massive $60 (or so) an hour more than NZ’s ?

    Ah, McCains, you’ve done it again.

    • nilats 1.1

      Birds Eye and Edgell maker Simplot has squashed hopes that they will take on more vegetable contracts in the wake of McCain’s decision to close a vegetable processing plant in the state of Tasmania.

      Simplot’s Managing Director Terry O’Brien told the ABC’s Country Hour that the company was committed to the southern state but had no plans to expand.

      “Unfortunately the market isn’t driven by supply, the market’s driven by consumer demand,” he said. “The owners of that demand don’t change because someone shuts a factory.”

      “So we won’t have the need for further volume, we’ll still keep selling the volume that we do today.”

      McCain will be moving their processing operations (potato aside) to New Zealand from Smithton in north-west Tasmania, unless Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett can coerce a change of mind at a meeting with McCain executives in Melbourne tomorrow.

      This is good news for NZ if correct.

      • roger nome 1.1.1

        Nilats and Wyndham remind me of the people who proclaim an end to fears of liquid fuel shortages because the MSM report the discovery of an oil field with reserves that equate to two months global consumption. “Thunder-Horse” comes to mind. They grasp at what ever tenuous straws are fed to them by our media outlets, in a desperate attempt to save their dying ideology. They discard the trend, and cherry-pick isolated pieces of evidence that support thier cause. These people are short-cited and narrow minded if they really beleive the tripe they dish out. Certainly their contributions to the political discourse can only harm the vast majority of people, if they have any impact at all…

    • roger nome 1.2

      Yes Wyndham – let’s join the race to the bottom. At this rate the Nats will have Nike moving factories from Shenzhen, China to South Auckland, because our wage rates are lower. Now wouldn’t that be a massive victory for NZ!

  2. ianmac 2

    I seem to remember how heavily Key hammered the Closing the Gap line at the election, and gained traction! And now? Yeah right!

    • Jim Nald 2.1

      John Key is closing the gap
      the gap between
      what he says to you and what he says to another
      big gap

  3. BLiP 3

    And forcing tens of thousands of people on the DPB into a non-existent job market is definitely going to help keep wages down.

  4. BLiP 4

    More for the pattern:

    Mr Ryall today said latest figures from the State Services Commission showed the number of full-time equivalent staff positions in the core government administration, as at June 30 this year was 36,771 – about 2100 fewer than when the cap was imposed.

    • Fisiani 4.1

      2100 fewer pen pushers is known as a good start.
      2100 more pen pushers is known as typical Labour.

      2100 pen pushers now in actual productive work is known as economic and social progress.
      Thank goodness we have a captain and chief engineer steering the boat in the right direction.

      • Colonial Viper 4.1.1

        Since ‘pen pushers’ helped save the city of Christchurch from being levelled, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

        2100 pen pushers now in actual productive work is known as economic and social progress.

        Interesting you view standing in the dole queue as ‘actual productive work’.

        Thank goodness we have a captain and chief engineer steering the boat in the right direction.

        Didn’t you hear? New findings suggest that the Captain of the Titanic continued to sail the ship even after it was holed, and took her down that much faster. I see Bill and John giving the order for full steam ahead.

        • Fisiani 4.1.1.1

          If 8 pen pushers do the work previously done by 10 pen pushers we are more productive by 20% whether in Christchurch or anywhere.
          Being let go to find more productive employment does not equate to being on the dole. There are hundreds of job vacancies filled daily.

          • Colonial Viper 4.1.1.1.1

            If 8 pen pushers do the work previously done by 10 pen pushers we are more productive by 20% whether in Christchurch or anywhere.

            Perhaps you think that if another 4 pen pushers were let go at that point, then ‘productivity’ would rise by another full 50%? What’s stopping you mate? And who exactly gets the benefits of this ‘increased productivity’? You now going to pay the workers 50% more for doing 50% more work? If not why not? How much more would you pay them for doing 50% more work?

            With this level of management thinking in this country I understand why our brightest, hardest working citizens have decided to leave for Australia.

            There are hundreds of job vacancies filled daily.

            So, how long do you figure before all 170,000 unemployed have jobs then?

            Or have you not realised that its a revolving door – giving one person a job while two loses theirs is not really progress, is it?

            • Fisiani 4.1.1.1.1.1

              If one pen pusher puts in the lightbulb and the other 7 write reports on it then reducing by 50% with one lightbulb fitter means that only 3 fill in a report. Why pay them any more?
              Same real work output. 50 % less cost. Twice as efficient.
              Labout would as always employ another 20 high paid form fillers and so reduce unemployment. Hooray! But we the poor overtaxed suckers pay through the nose to give Labour a headline and suck money out of the productive economy. An economy that was in recession for 5 years under socialist mismanagement.

      • Vicky32 4.1.2

        Define “pen pusher”…
        Also, without we “pen-pushers”, you shovel-leaners wouldn’t be able to get anything done.
        Deb

  5. The wage gap,between Australia and Aotearoa is not the real worry as I think it is relevant and it tends to balance out between wages and prices .
    However what is of concern is the huge gap in Aotearoa between rich and poor. Under this Tory lot its getting bigger and bigger .We have sections of the community on a pittance and others on wages and bonuses that can only be described obsene .

    • Vicky32 5.1

      I was thinking about that when listening to an item about life expectancy in NZ on Nat Rad this morning… I wanted to know whether the stats exist that could determine who income and inequality relate to life expectancy? Maori men apparently have a life expectancy of 69 – and presumably for every other category it’s higher. My sister told me years ago, that the pension age was set at 65 as part of the pattern (presciently) because few poor people could expect to live to 65… This ironically included my parents neither of whom reached 65. They were not Maori, but they were poor!
      Deb

  6. Jum 6

    Speaking of frozen foods and political lobbyists, I no longer buy anything Talley produces because they flim flammed for the NActs: Hollow Man page 243. From one consumer to another – pass it on.

  7. 'Someone who hates fxxkwits' 7

    Fxxkwits like Fisiani highlight what NAct men and women are – just nasty, greedy and grasping.

    They’re making fun of people’s real problems, just another crappy attack on these people can result in depression, suicide, domestic violence, as just one more insult to their psyche.

    Just had the misfortune to hear Michelle Boag, queen of the really bad headhunters, ranting on about Len Brown talking over John Banks. Poor Brian Edwards couldn’t get a word in… Then she had the gaul to say that she wasn’t party politicking. Yet another lying fxxkwit from the NActs.

    And lying too. Gardens in schools were in with Labour; she made it sound as if only NAct did it recently. What she should be reminded of is that they removed good food choices from school tuckshops.

    [lprent: There was a point in that tirade? I couldn’t see it past the troll-like verbiage. ]

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