Posts Tagged ‘wages’

Slavery Days

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, December 18th, 2018 - 62 comments

A Hawkes Bay man has been charged with slavery and human trafficking. Why are we surprised?

Industrial action is one way to increase wages

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, May 17th, 2018 - 20 comments

The National Party has recently been on the Government’s case for increasing strikes under their watch. But is that really a fair criticism, and does it jive well with the other things the Opposition has been claiming to value?

Why are we angry about tax and apathetic about low pay?

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, September 29th, 2017 - 49 comments

National’s one and only strategy this election was lying about Labour, specifically Labour’s budget and their tax policy. The $11.7bn hole lie just made the Nats look stupid, but the evidence suggests that the tax lie did real damage. Why are we so angry about tax and so apathetic about the much more important issue of low pay?

National – Delivering no pay rises for NZ

Written By: - Date published: 8:29 am, August 17th, 2017 - 15 comments

Expect plenty of Nat boasting on “the economy” in the election campaign. They’ll be desperate to hide the inconvenient fact that ordinary workers are going backwards.

Labour’s new employment relations package

Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, June 29th, 2017 - 107 comments

Labour: “After nine years of National, working people’s share of the economy is falling. Less than 40 per cent of economic growth under National has gone into working people’s wages. If working people’s slice of the economy hadn’t shrunk under National, workers’ pay packets would have been $23 billion larger.”

English on our low wage growth

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, May 30th, 2017 - 40 comments

Bill English knows that our low wage economy is a ticking time-bomb for the government. He must be starting to get worried. The repeated promises of jam tomorrow are well worn out now.

Tipping vs fair wages

Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, May 24th, 2017 - 39 comments

I don’t know of a single piece written in support of Bennett’s proposal. She has been in the bubble too long, and lost touch with the values of NZ.

Nats deny women pay equity transparency

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, May 11th, 2017 - 44 comments

As usual National proves itself to be no friend of women. They have voted the Equal Pay Amendment Bill down because they will always choose employers over people.

The case for higher wages

Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, April 26th, 2017 - 31 comments

In the warm afterglow of the huge wage increase for health care workers the case for addressing NZ’s creaking low-wage economy is getting some recognition (along with the effect of immigration on wages).

Immigration in election year

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, April 19th, 2017 - 38 comments

National is about to execute a flip flop on immigration, not for any constructive reason, but to try and head off Winston Peters’ big issue.

Audrey Young on resurgent unions

Written By: - Date published: 8:39 am, November 26th, 2016 - 13 comments

Audrey Young writes on growing union numbers, strengths, and wins for their members. Excellent!

Workers, unions and the Labour party

Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, October 23rd, 2016 - 198 comments

Convincing workers not to organise in their own best interests is one of the great successes of right-wing politics.

Hickey on immigration and wages

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, August 22nd, 2016 - 79 comments

Hickey: “The best way for an economy to grow is for the market to allow wages to grow. Allowing a flood of low-skilled migrants is frustrating that market mechanism with the short-term aim of keeping wages low for employers.”

Spark – kudos

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, August 15th, 2016 - 30 comments

Our wages are too low generally, and this is one of the main economic challenges that we face. A few more employers committing to paying a living wage would be a good place to start.

Left Side Story: What do New Zealanders actually earn?

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, August 12th, 2016 - 91 comments

Reprinted with permission, by Deborah Russell from Left Side Story: What do New Zealanders actually earn? And why we need to understand these figures.

Why are wages flat?

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, August 9th, 2016 - 179 comments

The Nats would have you believe that the economy is in good shape, in which case there is no excuse for the ongoing stagnation of wages. Of course it’s not as simple as that.

Little’s $50 a week message getting through

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, May 23rd, 2016 - 116 comments

A great reception for Little’s speech, and a take-home message that resonates well.

Holding back our productivity

Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, April 14th, 2016 - 72 comments

Our “business leaders” are doing an objectively poor job. Perhaps instead of insulting Kiwi workers as “pretty damned hopeless”, Bill English should be taking aim at these captains of industry.

Jobs and wages

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 am, February 6th, 2016 - 54 comments

Boring stuff about boring old jobs and wages.

Paying a generous wage

Written By: - Date published: 10:12 am, November 1st, 2015 - 116 comments

Well paid staff are happy, productive staff. Who’d have thought it!

Exploited workers need union protection

Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, December 1st, 2014 - 30 comments

Another example of a bad employer unfairly docking a worker’s pay. But this worker was a union member…

Happy International (Working) Women’s Day!

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, March 8th, 2014 - 28 comments

The official theme of International Women’s Day this year is “Inspiring Change”. It’s a little vague, a little aspirational, not too confrontational – fairly typical for this kind of awareness-raising exercise. But it is 2014, and it’s an election year, and the way we talk about women, and women’s work, does have the potential to […]

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.

Police to march?

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, June 21st, 2012 - 34 comments

Who guards the guardians if the police march on Parliament?

Fact checking Key

Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, March 22nd, 2011 - 17 comments

According to Scoop, the PM is telling porkies about the average income of New Zealanders.  On behalf of the various authors here at The Standard I’d just like to say, well, gosh! — imagine our surprise.

Keith Ng: Nat bullshit on inflation and earnings

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, October 20th, 2010 - 44 comments

National have been running some fine lines of bullshit lately.  Keith Ng’s recent post at Public Address calls them out on two of them.  The first, National is trying to claim credit for low inflation.  The Second, National is trying to claim that recent wage increases have been better than the previous 9 years.  Keith takes the bullshit apart – dirty work, but someone has to do it.

Wages up at record rate

Written By: - Date published: 12:58 pm, May 5th, 2008 - 17 comments

The Labour Cost Index rose a record 3.4% for the March year. That means wages and salaries for doing the same job rose an average of 3.4% over the year. Public sector wages were up 3.3% and private sector wages up 3.5%. Retail and other low-paid workers did especially well, with their pay up 5.1%, […]

Kiwisaver breaks half a million

Written By: - Date published: 4:37 pm, March 25th, 2008 - 17 comments

Congratulations to Kiwisaver’s 500,000th member, baby Remy Van Cruysen, whose parents, Jules and Megan, signed him up today. By the time Remy is an adult he will have a nest-egg worth $49,000 in today’s money. Kiwisaver has been enormously popular. People have signed up at twice the expected rate 500,000 have joined in less than eight months, […]

Whatever, Roger

Written By: - Date published: 5:38 pm, March 20th, 2008 - 74 comments

NZers’ wallets will bulge under Act, says Roger Douglas. Sure they will Roger – with the bills from our kids’ user-pays schools, our privatised hospital fees, water charges, private accident insurance premiums and, if your party gets half a chance, the privatised oxygen from the air we breathe. Because we all know who gets rich […]

For the record

Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, February 28th, 2008 - 103 comments

Like most of his policy positions John Key’s story on his comment “we would love to see wages drop” just keeps on changing. First he was “misrepresented”, then his comment was “lighthearted”, and now he’s claiming he never said it. Which is it John? In an interview today with Mickey Havoc, Key now denies ever […]

Jones to Key: say it to our faces

Written By: - Date published: 3:25 pm, February 25th, 2008 - 23 comments

Far North Labour MP Shane Jones laid down the gauntlet to Key over the ‘we would love to see wages drop‘ scandal. Jones reminds Key that: “all it takes to ruin a Teflon pan is one scratch” and in a second press release lays out his challenge: ‘there’s only one way for Mr Key to […]

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