Interesting day at the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee today as we heard submissions on Kate Wilkinson’s Rest and Mealbreaks amendment bill.
The Bill enables employers to place restrictions on breaks, such as requiring a worker to be on call or perform duties, but the Government seems to have overlooked that in many workplaces, a half hour meal break is unpaid.
Under this bill workers could be required to provide free labour and to forfeit breaks for whatever the employer decides they should be compensated with.
The provision of ‘compensatory measures’ for where a break is not provided is wide open to interpretation, and my questioning of officials today confirmed that a compensatory measure could be as little as a muffin.
One submitter told the committee that a compensatory measure could be a bottle of wine.
I guess that’s a little better than a muffin – but not much.
Darien – my response to your comment is merely to have a look at the poll results!
You can try & minimalise my comments & dismiss them as a regurgitation of NACT or whatever, bottom line the truth hurts…including such truths as the transport association not wanting a bar of your suggested meeting because they are still haunted by the 5th Labour government’s shoddy & crippling policies and they suspect that your only interest in the industry is to try & drum up support for unions rather than being truly sympathetic of the conditions they face.
Further, it doesn’t matter whether you agree with me or not, my vote seems to be indicative of the majority so perhaps it’s time for the Labour party to show they have turned over a new leaf…irrespective of whether the majority are right, the majority is what counts on election day!
To fail to respond to the points I raise & offer solutions & instead merely attempt to belittle my views shows you as an MP and Labour as a party has a long way to go in terms of proving to New Zealand you are a trustworthy and credible alternative government.
You should be concerned about the fact that I, as a swinging voter, am one of only a handful of people that bother to comment on here….you should be very worried about the silence….rather deafening don’t you think???
Loota – yes I agree re adult education. Things like that & policies such as the boot camp stuff make me wonder if ANY government is actually capable of listening to the people & research and acting in our best interests.
That said all the so-called cuts….well, I’m inclined to think of it ’sorting the meat from the bones’ rather than the apparent free-for-all (including the MP troughers) that was so clearly & extravagantly endorsed by the previous government.
The Employment Relations (Breaks, Infant Feeding, and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2008 is a clear example of yet another hand out without any real strategy, planning and thought to the consequences and to many of us, was merely indicative of Labour’s desperate attempt to hold onto power rather than a genuine attempt to improving workers conditions….
Loota/Everyone there are Unions in nearly every kind of workforce, doctors supermarket workers or whatever, but the point of Unions is it’s meant to be all workers standing together and having the threat of strike together that’s not the way it is anymore
Rebecca I can see you have a fair bit of resentment towards the Labour party… so do I but you should have some loyalty because the reality is there’s no alternative the other Left wing parties in existance have really small support bases the best you can do is stay with the lost cause and try your best to influence it to put it back on the right track. In the meantime you should still vote for them because the only alternative is National. And yes the two party system sucks but it’s what we are faced with and we have to make the best with what we’ve got.
Here’s a poll for you Rebecca: http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2010/4512/
Dylan….that’s a lovely thought however, you can only help those who wish to be helped.
Labour may allow me to express my views, but when they either ignore them or belittle them or imply that I am in fact a NACT insider then clearly they lack maturity along with good sound policy, an ethical basis and true accountability.
Yes unions can definitely serve a good purpose where employees do not feel they are able to negotiate their terms on their own but the reality is, 50% of the workforce are actually employed by small businesses so in such environments it makes sense to encourage conditions where employers & employees can negotiation fair terms & conditions suitable to both parties.
The Act Labour hurried in in 2008 hindered this process hence the need for a review now.
P.s Spud – interesting however, my understanding the Labour party prefers the 3 News polls….oh dear
http://www.3news.co.nz/Expenses-scandal-hurts-Labour-in-polls/tabid/419/articleID/161801/Default.aspx
They’ll recover, and kick butt
I believe you….thousands don’t
They will
General election is still a long time away. Nobody start counting their chickens yet
Rebecca you said to Waterboy what he was saying was Rubbish you were putting down his opinion and that’s all a part of free speech. Then Darien did something simular to you don’t act so shocked.
God I just saw the comment you left at (was it) 4:48 today? I’m going to come back to you on that one.
‘The last 18months have rest purely on the global environment’
No the situation of our economy since the last 150 or so years has rested purely on the global environment…
‘C* and the aftermath of the 5th Labour government’s poor economic policies over a period of 9 YEARS’
You are right there… but I just wish you would put up some alternative solutions while you criticised them
‘your groceries [going] up by 18%’
If overseas consumers are willing to pay more for our food than domestic consumers what the hell are we supposed to do about it? I say subsidise food again what alternative would you have to offer?
‘where your power bill went up by an average of 7% per year’
I believe the Green’s may have had a bit more to do with that…
‘…mortgages unaffordable…’
Again what do you think Labour should have done?
@Rebecca -Sorry but sometimes your comments sound just like those BIll English spouts across the House at Labour every day. On the truckies – well funny that, because I’ve been meeting with truckies and large trucking companies, along with transport associations every week since we last talked about it. As for drumming up support for unions – well hahaha, how would that work?
I think Co-ops could be a solution for the future… I love em and think Fonterra, Zespri and Credit Unions show us the way forward, just need some in manufacturing, boat building, forestry, dairy works, etc…
Darien – again what complete & utter garbage. If that’s the best you can do by way of an eloquent response then no wonder Labour continues to fail so spectacularly at “reconnecting with ordinary New Zealanders”.
In terms of the meetings – good for you, but you know exactly what I am talking about….
Stop flogging the dead horse – no except the party faithful agree with the Labour rhetoric of yesteryear and as for you trying to get some leverage on the Rest and Meal-breaks amendment bill, well it is just not going to happen….
Hey Rebecca? Do you pee at any point during your working day / night?
@Rebecca – I think you proved my point by writing off my commemts as “complete and utter rubbish.”(again) I’ve just come back from a picket of low paid workers at a 4.5 star hotel who have been LOCKED OUT and they’re very interested in what Labour’s got to say. And I’m off to an early childhood education meeting with all of the centres on the North Shore who have had their funding cut. I’ll let you know what their views are, but I’m guessing they won’t be too happy with your beloved National government.
Or are you an employee that can really be DEPENDed on?