Today, on Labour Day I want to acknowledge the contribution New Zealand’s workers make to our country. They are often the forgotten part of the economic equation, but without workers, no business and no public service could get ahead.
There used to be a time when each generation was proud to say that their kids would be better off than their parents at work and the effort of unions in collective organisation and bargaining was about ensuring the gains won by our forebears were not lost.
I can’t say that today.
The 8 hour day and 40 hour week is regarded by many as an anachronism, benefits like overtime and weekend rates are considered out of the ark and the National Government narrative is that employers and business are providing a generous service by taking workers on, and they should just be grateful to have a job.
We subsidise low wages through working for families, we pay employers to take on young minimum wage workers they can sack after 90 days and then we blame people when they struggle to make ends meet.
In the 112th year of celebrating Labour Day as the day to recognise the contribution of New Zealand’s workers and the progress made in workers’ rights, we must remember it’s been another tough year for New Zealand workers, with thousands of layoffs, rising costs, stagnant wages and attacks on employment rights. The Government has launched an attacked on our young workers this week and further employment legislation is in the pipeline that will drive down wages for everyone.
One of the worst industrial disputes seen since the 1990s, the Ports of Auckland is still unsettled. The weeks of wages lost to Talleys AFFCO workers , their families and their communities in a bitter lockout to try to cut their pay and job security has taken a huge toll on poor rural communities and we’ve even seen low paid rest home workers on the picket line struggling for a pittance of a pay increase.
My message to New Zealand workers this Labour Day is that Labour appreciates your hard work and contribution, we are on your side and we have real plans to improve your working lives when this government is thrown out.
And enjoy the day. The government can’t take that away from us.
No, at present the merry pranksters can’t take labour day away from us… They don’t need to… as one by one, every gain made that was paid for with the blood, and suffering of our downtrodden brothers and sisters, is being removed to the backdrop of a cheering, and enthusiastic fourth estate…
Forget about the occasional article critical of current practices.. they are only there to distract us from the real agenda being imposed on us by those who would see humanity descend into barbarism if it meant they could steal it all back any easier than it has been already…
The workers of New Zealand used to be proud of the society which they had a major part in creating..What is there to be proud of today??
That we have managed to reinstate a pale imitation of what was an apprenticeship regime that produced the best tradesmen/women in the world?
That we now have to be self employed business owners, whether we want to, or not? with the accompanying stress, and lack of protection from the depredations of the large contractors that demanded, and got given, a system that tilts the playing field away from equity??
That we can now be used like a disposable dishrag by employers with not a skerrick of recourse to legislative protections…..??
That we can look forward to the average wage, and work conditions being further undermined over the next couple of years?? …. to the point that qualified artisans will be forced to work for subsistence money?? and be forced to show gratitude for even having a job??
Thank god they havn’t stolen the one day in the year that allows us a day off to count our blessings!!! (unless you happen to be one of the growing army of “sub-contractors”..Holiday pay??? spell that again?)
They weren’t benefits, they were penal rates, i.e, the employer got penalised for employing people for too long. This caused social and economic benefits. Here’s some but certainly not all:
1.) Unemployment was kept to a minimum
2.) Employers were incentivised to invest in capital
Social benefits included:
1.) Poverty was kept to a minimum
2.) People actually had time to socialise
National is implementing social dependency upon capitalists and thus making the capitalists the ruling elite – again – as they take us back to feudalism. Unfortunately, since the 1980s and possibly before, so is Labour.
re; Daphna Whitmore and Philip Ferguson article… While not doubting your sincerity, or that there are quite likely, many points of interest that should be canvassed, and researched, if only for historical clarity, I am always very reluctant to attribute accuracy, and veracity to articles that presuppose correctness, while being rather trite when giving a comprehensive background to the opinions being put forward…And this article represents an opinion piece….An informed one, but even so…..
If you have read any of John Tolands historical works, you will appreciate where I am coming from….
Far too many assumptions… not enough fact to be any more than a reference guide as to where to start the research…A useful start, but only a start nonetheless….
@dracotbastard : Yes you’re correct about them being penalties on employers. Whatever you call them, they exist for only a small number of workers these days. And as for your link, well that’s an oft repeated view from that quarter. Not sure it gets us anywhere
I was recently at a talk by Helen Kelly and learned that a New Zealander is more likely to belong to a union if they earn above the average wage and if they have a degree. This is contrary to right wing narratives about ‘greedy’ unions. What irony given the huge increases in salary for those at the top of our Govt departments, SOEs and corporations. Further, countries around the world that have higher rates of workers belonging to unions have less inequality than those that don’t.
It is a disgrace that New Zealand is now on a race to the bottom in terms of wages and conditions for workers. This is a situation that has been foisted on New Zealand workers through Government policy.
But they could easily be brought back by the same organisation that created them in the first place – government.
As for the link, Labour has done many good things but it’s done it in a way so as to protect capitalism from itself. Now, this isn’t a bad thing to do in an immediate sense but as capitalism is an obvious failure then we need to be looking for a way to replace it and Labour has never done that. Even now, with the GFC caused by the very policies that it brought into play in NZ it still looks more to slightly change policies to keep capitalism going than looking for a better way.
“but they could easily be brought back by the same organisation that created them in the first place”…
The building industry in new zealand has been forcing tradesmen/women in all facets of the industry to work as sub-contractors for the last two decades… A result largely of the employment contracts act.. compounded by the abolition of our apprenticeship structure…
To attempt to turn that around would take a very brave government indeed, considering the resources at the disposal of the employers in the industry…
If you thought the heralds “campaign for “democracy” was over the top, you ain’t seen nothing compared to the noise that would be generated by any attempt to redress the obvious imbalance…
Not to mention the propaganda war that would be directed against nz from head offices all over the world….
An issue like this has the potential to derail any government that tries it… But i would think it possible to do what the nats did in reverse, as in incremental clawing back of working conditions….
On the other hand, the issue of workers fundamental rights can be addressed relatively easily compared to a return to remuneration packages that give workers time, and money to have a life outside work…
With the advent of Globalisation our labour force is now competing with Third World Slave Labour who work for as little as $1.00 per day.
Also the profit margins for distributors are far greater when buying from the Third World and they do not have to worry about manufacturing and paying a decent wage here in NZ.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances would be a typical example of this.