workers Archive

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  Stop bullying Parliament’s workers

  
  
  
  Parliamentary Service has been trying to force the hard working, poorly paid support staff of Parliament to take cuts to their pay package. These are not the ‘political’ staff – they are the people who do things like security, messenger services, and building maintenance at Parliament. As is only fair, the staff have been resisting cuts [...] read more
  October 30, 2009 1:06 pm - 5 Comments
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  The workers’ rights debate

  
  
  
  Yesterday’s CTU employment relations debate was reported as feisty, but it felt fairly tame compared to union election debates of yore.  There were a couple of heckles, mostly just rude and abusive rather than the traditionally to be expected gruffly humorous or vaguely threatening.  There were a plethora leaflets being handed out from the Greens, [...] read more
  October 10, 2008 9:25 am - 57 Comments
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  Employment relations policy works for workers

  
  
  
  The Greens industrial relations policy, which Sue Bradford launched today, has been getting good reviews from workers and their unions. Laila Harré at the NDU said: It would be a good thing if the Green Party is able to have a strong influence on industrial relations after the election. They understand that most workers still do not [...] read more
  September 17, 2008 1:47 pm - 47 Comments
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  The end of a long working week

  
  
  
  NZPA reports today that: More than 150 years after a carpenter in Petone famously insisted on working an eight-hour day, one in three full-time workers are clocking up more than 50 hours a week. Meanwhile the Dominion Post reports: National  Party  plans to allow workers to cash in one week of annual leave will effectively result in [...] read more
  July 25, 2008 9:01 am - 94 Comments
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  Fair redundancy

  
  
  
  The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) have just made an interesting proposal calling for government legislation to ensure redundancy payments for workers. I think the argument in favour of looking at this as part of Minister of Labour’s advisory group that has just been been set up to examine the adequacy of redundancy laws [...] read more
  May 18, 2008 1:41 pm - 11 Comments
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  Spotless and PSIS not giving employers a good name

  
  
  
  Occasionally employers get up to some very strange things. First we have Spotless Cleaning company which last year had to be compelled to accept a nationwide deal that everyone else in the health sector had signed up to, to raise the living wages of cleaners and cooks in our public hospitals. Nine months after that dispute [...] read more
  April 3, 2008 10:15 pm - 1 Comment
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  Telecom gets Rogered

  
  
  
  Telecom has won CAFCA’s 2007 Roger Award for NZ’s worst transnational corporation. (TNC). British American Tobacco (BAT) and Spotless were tied as the runners up and the Whanganui DHB was announced the first winner of the Accomplice Award. To quote the Judges’ Statement: After looking as though the company would finally come to terms with regulation [...] read more
  March 17, 2008 11:05 am - 16 Comments