Grid of posts 2×3

  • Greenpeace loses battle for charity status

    By Alastair Reith A recent High Court decision has stripped Greenpeace New Zealand of its charity status in this country. The court upheld a 2010 ruling by the Charities Commission that the environmentalist organization is “too political” to be classed as a charity. Greenpeace is challenging the decision. The Commission argued that calls by Greenpeace Read more

  • Read the July issue of The Spark

    July issue of The Spark Last month the question of equality was blown open publicly and in quite a profound way by three events. The most prominent of these was of course the righteous controversy which resulted from Alasdair Thompson – CEO of the Employers and Manufacturers Association, the mouthpiece of a large section of Read more

  • Anti-Youth Rates protests send signal to government (regional round-up, photos)

    By Byron Clark, Jared Phillips, and Chris Matahaere On June 25 Unite and other progressive organisations, as well as socialists, sent a message to the government that any attempt to reintroduce youth rates will be met with resistance. These protests were very much the beginning and will be intensified – up to and including strikes Read more

  • Alisdair Thompson and the Anti-Worker Laws

    By Mike Kay The comments made by the head of the Employers and Manufacturers Association that pay discrimination against women was justified because they may take sick days when they have their period has rightly provoked widespread outrage. It seems hard to believe that Alisdair Thompson thought he could get away with spouting such crap. Read more

  • Legal battle over sleepover shifts demonstrates union role in women’s pay equity struggle

    Horizontal labour market segregation on the basis of gender has been well-entrenched in New Zealand’s economy, including within the care sector which is majority-comprised of women workers. The following article by Kelly Pope – a member of the Christchurch branch of the Workers Party who works as a mental health support person – demonstrates the Read more

  • Most recent figures show women still coming off worse under capitalism

    This article was prepared by The Spark editorial board and first appeared in the June 2011 issue of The Spark. The most recent Statistics New Zealand figures show slight upward trends in terms of employment, income, and labour force participation. By no means can we equate this to a beginning of the end of the Read more