Law change during industrial disaster

November 26, 2010 by

Daphna Whitmore

While the Pike River mining disaster was unfolding the National Government passed new laws to curb workers’ rights.

Thousands protest against the law changes

International mining experts say that the mass deaths in Pike River should not have happened in a modern mine in a developed country. Perhaps they were unaware of the marginalised status of unions in New Zealand? The new laws are designed to keep unions even more sidelined.

The Employment Relations Amendment Bill (No 2) and Holiday Amendment Bill make the following changes from April 2011: [Read more…]

Filed Under: National Party

Secret ballots? Workers should decide

November 18, 2010 by

Back in April The Spark carried an article sounding the alarm at National MP Tau Henare’s Private Member’s bill to require unions to run secret ballots for strike action. While the Council of Trade Unions gave its “support in principle” to the bill at the time, we warned that workers could become ensnared in pedantic legal challenges by employers trying to undermine strikes. No Right Turn blog had also given its backing to bill as “a bit of a no-brainer.”

Predictably, the moderate-sounding wording of the original has been amended by the select committee, so now employers could challenge strike ballots with injunctions. Now the CTU and their mates in the Labour Party are crying foul over the bill. Didn’t the 90 day “sack at will” law brought in by Henare’s party give them a clue about what were the government’s intentions with regard to employment laws? Are they really surprised that a bill proposing further restrictions on unions wouldn’t also include the right of employers to challenge the process? [Read more…]

Filed Under: National Party, Workers in Struggle

Whanau Ora and Maori today

April 27, 2010 by

Phil Ferguson
The Spark May 2010

On April 21, the report of the government-commissioned Whanau Ora taskforce was made public.  The key idea of Whanau Ora (“Well-being”) is the establishment of a one-stop- shop approach to the problems of individuals and families in relation to problems of health, education and the justice system.  Funds are to be diverted from existing stage agencies into a new Whanau Ora Trust which would contract out work to service providers to deal with the problems on a whanau basis.  In other words, where an individual family member had health, education or justice system problems, the individual would be viewed as part of their whanau and the whole whanau would be engaged in finding solutions.  This is seen as “empowering” both whanau and individual Maori.

Although Whanau Ora was originally conceived by its Maori Party architects as a programme for Maori, there is now agreement that all “families in need” will have access to the services provided through the programme. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Maori Party, National Party, Poverty in New Zealand, Uncategorized

Christchurch’s free health center to close

April 10, 2010 by

The Spark April 2010
Byron Clark

Christchurch’ s free youth health center known as 198 is likely to close at the end of this month due to a funding shortfall. The center has delivered health services to young people since 1995. In 2008-09 the center received $553,087 from the District Health Board but it was forecast to receive the lesser amount of $461,114 this year and unable to find alternative funding to make up the difference and will be facing bankruptcy if it doesn’t close. [Read more…]

Filed Under: National Party

Planned economy not planned unemployment

April 6, 2010 by

The Spark April 2010
Jared Phillips

In the first part of its first term the current National government strengthened its centrist positioning with a job creation agenda (national and regional job summits), redundancy packages (Job Support Scheme, transitional relief packages), and youth employment incentives (youth opportunities package). As was the international order-of-the-day, corporate welfare pervaded most of the policy that emerged. Now, outside of National and Labour’s struggle for the political centre, New Zealand’s increasing margins – the unemployed, the underemployed, the transient workforce – are up for direct punishment.

Key and Bennett launched Future Focus (aka beneficiary bashing)

As  soon as John Key and Paula Bennett announced Future Focus benefit reforms in late-March 2010 One News let the game begin with a headline story about Work and Income NZ fraud by an ex-gang member’s partner, who they’d ambushed with cameras at her court appearance. On queue, The New Zealand Herald (25/3/10) chimed the bell with its editorial ‘Benefit reform a step in the right direction’, in which there was a mouth-off about `Young women who regard the domestic purposes benefit as an open-ended career choice’, and a citation of John Key’s ‘breeding for business’ theory in regard to ‘unmarried women’ who ‘get pregnant’. This is the way in which the government has come out to front the mass unemployment problem. [Read more…]

Filed Under: National Party, Poverty in New Zealand
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