Along with Green MP Keith Locke I attended the CTU rally in Auckland today. 7,000 wage and salary earners gathered in Manukau to express their anger and concern at the actions of this National government. They were part of actions in 30 locations throughout New Zealand with 22,000 people participating.
The Auckland rally was a very powerful gathering. Strong statements were made against the removal of rights – the right to challenge unfair dismissals, the right to see your union representative on site, the right to rest and meal breaks, the right to have holidays.
At the end I was asked by a journalist whether I thought the Government would listen. I responded that while they should listen I expected that they would not. This Government is going to force through this backward looking suite of attacks on working people. These changes will not lift workplace productivity, lift wages or close the wage gap with Australia – quite the contrary! We will all be worse off as a consequence.
The speakers today reflected concerns that I am hearing throughout the community. These attacks are not well received in the community and for many this is further evidence of a Government out of touch with the views and reality of many New Zealanders.
A similar range of policies was applied by National in the 1990′s – the goal was to maximise efficiency in the use of labour while holding down wages. Of course the increase in business use of labour productivity was matched by a rise in unemployment and an exodus of skilled workers looking for higher pay offshore. Thus no improvement to the national economy resulted and business did not progress over the medium term.
@SPC
Well, actually it cost the government since we have to pay the unemployed the dole. So it has a huge negative impact on the books exuding the higher crime rate that usually spikes as well.
The left have still not come out with a logical argument against the 90 day trial legislation. labour instead prefer to stick with emotional but generally irrational cliches.
@Monty
The right have still not come out with a logical argument for the 90 day trail legislation. It not going to create MORE jobs, just make it more harder and more fickle to get the ones that are already around. national instead prefers to try peddle the public with false hope.
Sadly for you, most people can see when something is clearly wrong and unfair, without it being spelt out for them. Bring on the Battle of 2011.
Monty, NACTMP changed the law it is for them to show categorically that the benefits of this law change outway the previous law.
Sounds like a great rally. I’m very pleased to see Labour and the Greens supporting this rally. John Key, in his recent statements, shows he doesn’t care about the current struggles of ordinary Kiwis.
I wonder if 7000 is an underestimate of the numbers at the Auckland rally. I was in a bus organised by my local union. We got into the car park outside the stadium and off the buss just before the rally ended. And there were other busses and cars behind us going into the stadium carpark.
The roads around the stadium were clogged up for at least an hour with vehicles tryng to get into the stadium.
Next time we need a much bigger stadium.
Fairness is cool but it must run both ways. I am beginning to get sick of the ‘good faith’ mantra… and oh.. we have just lost The Hobbit… thanks meddling ozzie union
Neoliberalism is now exposed as a failed theory, and new approaches are needed to deal with the problems NZ and the world faces.
Key and NACT are so stuck in their old, discredited economic theory, they have no idea of any other way to operate. So instead, they are blaming everyone else. They attack everyone else to divert from their own shortcomings. They blame Labour, The Greens, and the unions…. the list gets increasingly longer.
Taking The Hobbitt offshore is more to do with the the financial incentives offered by other countries than with the actors demands. NACT just haven’t offered enough. Other countries have offered double NZ government’s offer.
But, it’s in keeping with NACT and their supporters – the powerful movie industry execs, the news media, etc, to blame anyone but themselves.
Eventually, there’ll be no-one left to blame except themselves. Maybe then NACT will start to re-examine themselves and their own short-comings?
Good on you Carol, no they won’t listen
The Hobbit was set to be filmed in NZ till the aussie actors unions weighed in. There were casting calls for extra in wellington.
Now the prodution looks to be going with the loss of thousands of jobs and the loss of income from flow on effects to the economy.
Now Helen Kelly has called Peter Jackson a “spoiled Brat”. Who has worked harder for NZ and it’s film industry than Peter Jackson. How many thousands of well paid jobs has he created? What has he done for the image of New Zealand?
Helen Kelly has helped to destroy an industry.
The left have still not come out with a logical argument against the 90 day trial legislation.
A law that allows someone to lose their job within a 90 day trail period, without receiving a chance to know the reason why they are losing it, and therefore not receiving a chance to respond to any accusations of poor performance at work. The employee will receive unemployment and a black mark on their CV without even basic recourse to natural justice.
As a right-winger Monty, you surely agree that an individual who is about to lose their livelihood has a right to know why. And should have the opportunity for a fair hearing of their side of the story. If an employee did something that should get them fired, a fair hearing will not save them.
A probation period could have been negotiated into any contract under the old law, if both employee and employer agreed to it. Poor employers can use this new law as a licence to bully.
Looks to me that the left’s use of economic sabotage to cripple the government and help its Labour friends is finally being seen for what it is.
First the unions stop our children from getting educated by striking leading up to exams, next they destroy a half billion dollars of film industry in New Zealand. All cheered on by Labour MPs and the CTU.
Thanks Labour. The public will hate you and the unions for what you have done.
Labour had nothing to do with the Hobbit going awol
No. It seems it’s Warners pulling all the strings. People need to take a big breath and look at what is actually happening. Warners has no interest in benefitting the NZ industry in the long run. And what’s with selling our workers (and productions) to such overseas corporates on the basis of weak union protections?
It’s a tough world out there, especially right now, and Hollywood is probably feeling vulnerable and concerned about the loss of total dominance of the international movie industry (and of US power generally).
Stay on thread Trevor
What is this Hobbit talk, the illogical link of the day? Yesterday’s rally was not connected to that dispute, it was in regards to 90 day leglislation. And at no point did a Labour or Green MP address the crowd.
If the Hobbit goes overseas, it will be because the Warner Brothers haven’t been able to extract more tax breaks from the government than they have already. It will be because the relative strength of the New Zealand dollar to the US dollar means that Warner Brothers money will not go as far in this country as the US dollar went during ‘Lord of the Rings’. That is where the big cash margins are.
@smhead how can you not put any responsobility with the employers who drove the people into striking in the first place.
So what is the official Labour position on The hobbit dispute?
Are you all swinging behind Helen Kelly on this one even though she has been critisised by Wingnut films as follows.
“Remarks on television by Helen Kelly of the CTU, demonstrated a total lack of understanding of the film industry. Nothing she had to say about The Hobbit and film financing was remotely factual. Why she has suddenly become the NZ Equity spokesperson is unclear, it appears to be a case of the blind being lead by the even-more-blind.”
Pretty damning of a key ally of the Labour Party don’t you think?
Siding with the corporate hacks will not do NZ workers any good Gosman.
…and siding with inept unions will?
Labour and the CTU needs to have a plan ready here; if The Hobbit loses you can be sure that Jackson and his corporate hacks, plus the Bill and John show, will go on a major union bashing spree.
Especially while they are trying to deflect away attention from the fact the off stage fight was probably around tens of millions worth of tax breaks, not hundreds of thousands worth of *minimum* terms and conditions for workers.
The opinion poll running at stuff.co.nz is interesting reading too….I think Labour need to keep that in consideration for whatever plan of reaction they have.
Good to see that you acknowledge this issue could do some serious damage to Labour Colonial Viper. I suspect the Labour Party will try and keep quiet on this whole issue though. Especially considering they basked in the reflected accolades from Peter Jackson in the past.
Sean right, if the movie was going to be relocated it wouldn’t be because of a few people on strike!
Hollywood itself has a number of actors unions and some do most other nations. (EU Aussie etc)
I think Sean hit the nail on the head when he mentioned a strong NZ dollar plus I think government subside and tax breaks might by drying up too while other governments around the world are still offering them.
Just a few people on strike wouldn’t case a company to relocate, they have already poured in a lot of resources just into the filming etc…. so why bail out just because of a couple of unionist.
The PM has made a statement on this. I expect Phil Goff’s response any time now………..
So Red are you calling Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens liars then because they do think the Union actions have caused this problem.
Now John Key is stepping in, and says he will talk to Warners, not about dollars and cents, but to restore the confidence in NZ that he says the union has undermined:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/60008/hobbit-%27on-the-edge%27-of-being-moved-overseas
How convenient for Key that he has this line of spin at his finger tips at the very moment that he is under attack from a whole range of unions.
The timing of Jackson’s announcement, has always seemed a little strange, given that there has been no decisions made about where The Hobbit will be filmed.
It’s also curious that John Key is running exactly the same line as the Jackson team today.
Phil Goff needs to step up now, with a quick response – one that is clear, decisive and has impact – and put the case for workers & unions.
@Gosman
I didn’t call them lairs in that post, I think it just a smoke screen that they using, tax breaks and subsides are drying up plus national hasn’t kept in contact with Warner.
Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens aren’t owners or the backers of the movie, they are just writers hired by Warner!
I doubt Warner would leave the country just because of a few actors that are on strike, every other western country has a actors union as well and do the same thing from time to time!
Its just a threat against the actors and against the government, a way to win more concession!
Get the strikes to give up or get more tax breaks and subsides from the government.
Something else is going on behind they curtain and they not telling us!
National of course will blame the unions as the usually do…
never mind their a.c.tions or lack of them!
Carol said
No Carol; it’s more a case of how convenient it is for John Key that MEAA over-played its hand, and that the CTU backed the few in a move which is going to cost many their jobs.
John Key doesn’t need to run any anti-union spin; the unions are managing that for themselves.
Yes interesting opinion poll on stuff.co.nz this afternoon, seems over 80% of the public believe The actors’ unions are responsible for the “Hobbit impasse”.
I would have to agree with them as that’s what the producers have stated.
Look at this rubbish they’re printing in The Herald.
Phil needs to make a strong statement on this right now!
Hobbit actors feeling ‘feeling misrepresented’ by union
Film workers are voicing fears for their future amid last ditch efforts to keep The Hobbit in New Zealand.
Actor and filmmaker Luke Hawker says an industrial dispute that threatens to derail the production could hobble the entire New Zealand film industry.
“If Peter Jackson can’t get films done then what hope do I have?,” Mr Hawker said.
“The thing about New Zealand is we are such a small industry that we do a lot of things that aren’t standard. We work together to make films. That’s how we survive.
“A lot of actors are feeling misrepresented by a union that is putting our industry in jeopardy.”
NZ Actors’ Equity, with the support of Australia’s Media Entertainment Arts Alliance, advised its members not to accept work on The Hobbit until filmmakers entered into union-negotiated agreements with New Zealand actors.
Mr Harker has worked on big budget films such as Lord of the Rings and Avatar and made his own independent films.
Different pay rates for different levels of production is just part of being in the film industry, he says.
“There are a lot of insecurities to deal with as an actor. There is feast or famine.
“If you want a job that’s secure, become an accountant, become a lawyer. I didn’t get into films to make money. I got into it because I wanted to make movies. I started on $12 an hour. If you come into this business to make money you’re in the wrong business.”
NZ Actors’ Equity Union demands to standardise pay rates could cripple dozens of New Zealand films, he says.
“I made a low budget film and I couldn’t pay anyone. If that was a unionised production I couldn’t have made it.”
Electronics Model Maker Martin Jago was at an emotional meeting that ended with film technicians picketing outside a planned NZ Actors’ Equity meeting.
Some of the businesses he works with will have to close down if The Hobbitis shifted offshore, he says.
But he is convinced the damage done to the reputation of the New Zealand film industry is the greater concern.
“It’s not just about The Hobbit. It’s about the next five to 10 years. How are we going to attract another large budget film to New Zealand? If you have $500 million to invest, why would you take it somewhere unstable? The long range repercussions are quiet vast.
“People here love their jobs. They’re working for a lot less than they would get elsewhere. They’re going to have to look at either changing industry or try to get work in another country.”
He emigrated from England to make films in New Zealand.
That decision would not have come easily after the events of this week, he says.
“I came to New Zealand to be part of the film industry. New Zealand would not have been as attractive a place for me to come to as of yesterday.”
Not back yet comrade, am currently in st petersburg, just been ripped off and tossed out of a cab away from my destination… normal russia experiences I guess….
yea, let’s make sure films stay in NZ no matter how the actors are treated or paid. China has a similar attitude to their competitiveness on the worl dmarket dont they?
Sheeesh Tracey hope you are ok and with good people.
The unions have not co-ordinated their actions and comms plan wrt The Hobbit and Jackson and his corporate crew have run rings around them.
But it boils down to the basics. Jackson not wanting to let workers organise and Jackson not willing to concede basic employment protections and conditions, ones which all NZ workers deserve.
Unfortunately because Jackson has a “Sir” in front of his name, 90% of those polled will not speak against him nor assume he may be heavy handed or even a bully (I have no idea if he is either). His own share of profits etc is enormous, and yes he contributes more thana 2-bit actor, but geesh, stop paying them 2 bits whydoncha.
Perhaps we have to face it, we are liked by Warners cos we are cheap, more expensive than idia or china but cheap, cheap enough to make Roumania the next option. People really ought to think about that… if not NZ then the next cheapest place is Roiumania, some of the 90% might want to google that country to see just where we stand in the pecking order, 3rd world wise.
Poor Tracey,
, hug for you, 
I heard that we are the Mexico of the South Pacific.
@Tracey
I think it might be the Czech Republic or some other eastern europe country (post-soviet). There are a lot of movies made there. It cheaper, part of the EU, stable, good condition with good infrastructure and plenty of skilled people.
So if NZ goes down the tube I say the would move to eastern europe.
Romanian is way to poor and backward for them.