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Will McCully help his constituent “Pirate” Pete?

Posted by Darien Fenton on March 12th, 2010

As expected, Pete Bethune has been arrested after arriving in Japan aboard the Japanese whaling boat he has been held captive on since February 15th.

Pete Bethune is charged with piracy for climbing on board the Shonan Maru 2 after it collided with and ultimately destroyed the Ady Gil in the Southern Ocean. If convicted he could face imprisonment of up to three years.  Understandably, his wife is concerned that Pete will be made an example of by the Japanese Government.  She and Pete (who live in Murray McCully’s electorate of East Coast Bays) have every right to look to their local MP for assistance and support.

But don’t hold your breath.  McCully says NZ will provide “consular support”, but surely his constituents in East Coast Bays can expect a little more than that?

It’s getting nasty in Japan.  Pro-whaling activists yesterday protested outside the New Zealand embassy waving cans of whale meat, demanding the New Zealand Government punishes the Sea Shepherd activists, including Pete Bethune.  And our government has been busy this week appeasing the Japanese government and the whale-killers.

But McCully has a job to do in East Coast Bays as well as on the international stage.

It’s time he gave Pete’s wife a call and did his job as a local MP.


EMA scare campaigning

Posted by Darien Fenton on March 7th, 2010

It comes as no surprise to me to learn that the Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) have been slagging off my Redundancy Protection Bill (due for first reading in a couple of months) in their quarterly briefings to members.

I’m told it got quite personal. An acquaintance who attended the EMA briefing where my bill was discussed says that there was a photo of me put up on the power-point with a run-down on my union background, a scary dressing down about the evils of the bill, and a warning of what’s coming should Labour be re-elected to government.

Afterwards, I came across an open letter to me on the web from an EMA member-organisation, written as a result of their attendance at one of these briefings. They were wound up and panicked by the EMA’s representation of my bill – in my view quite unnecessarily.  I feel sorry for them.

The only problem is they didn’t send it to me.  I would gladly have responded to their concerns and issues, just as I would happily front any EMA briefing to have a debate about my bill.

Now I see the EMA is advertising a new workshop, called “Learn restructuring – the easy way” – in other words, how to make workers redundant.

And they’re charging $448 plus GST for the privilege.

Funny thing, though.  According to an 2007 EMA survey on redundancy 66.8% of employers had a redundancy clause in their agreements with workers, of which 42.8% provided for compensation.  The most common formula was 4 weeks compensation for the first year of service and 2 weeks for each year of service after that.

That’s exactly what my bill provides for.

It’s this kind of scare campaigning that unions (and Labour) are often accused of – yet here it is in all of its glory in the Northern EMA – the bosses union.


Dear Mr Speaker (again)

Posted by Darien Fenton on February 26th, 2010

After protesting at parliament last week, followed by Labour MPs writing to the speaker, cleaners at Parliament have sent their own letter to the Speaker, asking him to assist. This is a big deal for these cleaners to do this, just as it was for them to protest outside parliament last week – they’ve never done it before and as they say, they are largely invisible, working during the night when politicians are sleeping to keep their offices clean and maintained to a high standard.

Jaine Ikurere images 9Meanwhile, I want to introduce you to Jaine Ikurere, who cleans John Key’s office. She’s signed the letter, and like the other cleaners at Parliament, earns just $12.55 an hour.

I hope Mr Speaker listens to Jaine and her fellow cleaners.


National agrees Labour’s right about youth rates

Posted by Darien Fenton on February 25th, 2010

The National Party have done a flip flop on their support of youth rates minimum wages. In 2008, they fiercely opposed the removal of youth rates in the minimum wage, saying that it would increase youth employment and provide an incentive to leave school early.

After Roger Douglas announced his bill to reinstate youth rates, I asked Minister Kate Wilkinson in a written question whether she is in favour of reinstating a minimum youth wage. She answered “no”.

Two weeks ago, the Minister hinted she was open to Roger Douglas’s bill to cut minimum wages, but it looks like she’s had a change of heart.

This is good news for young people, but bad news for Roger.

I’m wondering what discussions, if any, the governmeent has had with their coalition partner, the ACT party and whether Roger has been told that his bill to bring back youth rates won’t get passt first reading.

 Go Kate!


Tau’s bill is such a crock

Posted by Darien Fenton on February 24th, 2010

It was bad enough that Roger Douglas’s members bill to bring back youth rates was drawn from the ballot this week, but another bill that was drawn out on the same day is Tau Henare’s bill to impose secret ballots on workers and unions before a strike.

I’m not worried about Tau’s bill at all, because it’s so out of touch with reality.  Tau (who describes himself as an “experienced union organiser”) seems to think nothing’s changed in unions since his days as an paid official for the old Clerical Workers Union, back in the 1980’s.  But the process of requiring secret ballots before strikes is already standard procedure in unions.

Tau’s bill is a pointless waste of time, but I don’t care, because it’s the government’s legislative time he will be disrupting.  That’s got to be good news, because while we’re wasting time on his bill, the government will be slowed in its insatiable appetite to cut workers’ rights.

However, I do wonder if Tau has thought about the costs to the government and business of making it legally compulsory for unions to conduct secret ballots.  If secret ballots are legally required, they must be enforced.  Does that mean going back to the Tau’s good old days when the Department of Labour had to conduct the ballots?

Tau’s bill is a crock, but it should be fun taking it apart.


Dear Mr Speaker

Posted by Darien Fenton on February 18th, 2010

As Labour Members of Parliament we are very concerned that cleaners working inside Parliament are being paid just a few cents above the minimum wage.

These cleaners are employed by a private contractor (Spotless Services Limited – SSL), and are paid as little as $12.55 an hour.

We believe this reflects badly on this place, especially given that cleaners within other parts of the state sector such as schools and public hospitals are already being paid $14.62 an hour by the same contractor.

We think Parliament has a responsibility to set an example, and should not support poverty wages for the people who work so hard to make the lives of MPs run more smoothly.

Cleaners should be paid a living wage, and this should be at least $14.62 an hour, in line with other state sector cleaners.

We are aware that cleaners are currently negotiating their Collective Agreement and while those negotiations are directly with their employer, as the “client” we think that a message from yourself and MPs urging the contractors to pay a fair living wage to all cleaners could assist.

Yours sincerely,

Darien Fenton and other Labour MPs


The demo boom

Posted by Darien Fenton on February 14th, 2010

IMG_1334Now Parliament is back in full-swing, demos against Government action (or inaction) are heating up again.

Last week, the Corrections Association and PSA protested outside parliament about privatisation of their jobs in prisons.

Representatives from the Northern Action Group and Wellsford Community Action were on Parliament’s forecourt to present a 7,000 signature petition opposing North Rodney being part of the Supercity.

Then, over the weekend, workers angry about the pitiful minimum wage increase, 15% GST and threats to the youth rates protested outside National MP’s offices.

This coming week, there’s plenty going on.

Tuesday sees the ACC Futures Coalition, now joined with the Bikers, back at Parliament protesting ACC cuts and privatisation.

Wednesday the cleaners from Government Buildings, including Parliament, will be banging their buckets because they’re sick of being offered nothing more than minimum wage.

Thursday is Red Bag Day with a march and rally at Parliament organised by Business and Professional Women to remind National that pay equity is still an issue.

And that’s just in parliament.  NZEI will continue its national bus tour to highlight the issues around national standards and we’ll be with them wherever we can.

Should be a noisy week.  And it’s only February.


Will the Maori Party support ACC cuts too?

Posted by Darien Fenton on February 12th, 2010

The report from the Transport & Industrial Relations Select Committee on the government’s ACC bill was tabled in the House today.  This is the bill that slashes ACC entitlements.  I blogged on just one of the provisions recently, and Labour’s media release outlines the other changes.

The protests will continue.  The bikers have joined ACC Futures Coalition and will rally outside parliament next Tuesday.   Labour and the Greens will fight the bill throughout all parliamentary stages, because it is wrong, wrong, wrong.

The Maori Party have a call to make on this one.  Remember, they agreed to support the ACC bill when ACT was refusing to. which gave the numbers to get the bill through first reading.  ACT later came to the party, agreeing to support the bill through all stages with a deal to open up ACC’s work account to competition (in other words, privatisation).

The Maori Party said they wanted to let the people to have a say on the bill, and they would listen to the submissions and decide on whether they continued their support.

Rahui Katene said during the first reading that :

“……..We agreed to support the introduction of the bill and its referral to a select committee so that people can express their views. We want to hear about people’s experience with the scheme. Among others, we want to hear from workers and their whānau who have suffered an injury, health workers, and providers of rehabilitation services. We do this so that the accident compensation scheme can once again be a world leader; so that it can be affordable, fair, and culturally competent; and so that it can remember always to focus on the best interests of the community.”

Unfortunately, no MP from the Maori Party was at any of the Select Committee hearings to listen to the people, including those representing the 400,000 seasonal and casual workers, many of whom are Maori and the large number of Maori who work in primary industries, where injury rates are high – who will lose big time from this bill.

However, it seems that the Maori Party might have other interests. Katene said during the first reading that :

“There is another dimension to our decision to vote for this bill’s being referred to select committee to let the people have a say on accident compensation, and that is the potential for Māori entrepreneurship and enterprise to rise to the opportunity for innovation. In 2007 ACC undertook a risk-profile review with groups within the Ngāi Tahu umbrella, resulting in a considerable annual levy reduction. The Federation of Māori Authorities has also been interested in pursuing dialogue around levy rates and the possibility of a Māori consortium leading a corporate arrangement with ACC, possibly focusing initially on specific industry sectors such as forestry, fishing, construction, and farming.”

Another big call for the Maori Party.   I wonder if this one is a deal-breaker – or indeed if anything is?

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Filed under: ACC, Māori

A return to youth rates on the agenda?

Posted by Darien Fenton on February 11th, 2010

Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson appears to be open to bringing back lower rates for young workers on the minimum wage.

Answering a supplementary question from Roger Douglas yesterday on the minimum wage, she said :

The member may be aware that when Labour wanted to abolish the youth rate we did in fact vote against that legislation, for that very reason. We were concerned that it would price young people off the job market, and that it might also be a perverse incentive for them to leave education. I say to the member who asked the question that we are always willing to listen to good ideas.”

John Key said in his speech to parliament on Tuesday that “ the government will continue to look at whether labour laws are imposing excessive costs on the country and holding back opportunities to create jobs .”   

Kate’s answer would indicate that youth minimum wages may well fit into the PM’s criteria for imposing excessive costs and holding back job creation. 

There’s a number of National MP offices being picketed this Saturday by the Living Wage campaign for a $15 minimum wage.   I hope they ask National MPs this question, because there’s thousands of young workers who want to know whether they are facing pay cuts as well as hikes in GST.

Update :  Roger Douglas has just announced he will be introducing a members’  bill to bring back youth rates in the minimum wage.


ACC cuts coming to someone near you

Posted by Darien Fenton on February 8th, 2010

With the ACC Bill due to be reported back to parliament this Friday from Select Committee, watch out for a stepping up of opposition to ACC cutbacks and privatisation.

The ACC Futures Coalition and the leadership of last year’s “bikeoi”,  have teamed up to organise a march and rally on 16 February opposing the Government’s attacks on ACC.

Brent Hutchison, organiser of the bikeoi says :

“When we came here last year we were concerned about unfair levies.  We said we would be back, and now we will be – together with other groups who are feeling the impact of what the Government is doing to ACC. In November we were chanting ‘who’s next’ and now we know. It is the worker in the dangerous job, the seriously injured person who is to be forced off ACC weekly compensation on to a benefit, the victim of sexual abuse, the worker who is forced to use up all their holiday pay before being entitled to full weekly compensation and the worker who is deemed to be suffering less than 6% hearing loss. It is all New Zealanders who are next because we all rely on ACC as our backstop, and we will be there on 16 February to tell the Government to leave our scheme alone.”

And the CTU has developed three videos, which played on giant screens at the Westpac Stadium Queen’s Wharf and Courtenay Place during the Wellington Sevens game in the weekend.

Make sure you look out for the report back on Friday from the Select Committee considering the ACC bill.  You will see then if the government has taken any notice of those opposed to the slashing of entitlements in the bill – which was, by the way, almost every submitter.

Tags:
Filed under: ACC, protest

Coleman’s call : $107k to find a minder

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 29th, 2010

In June 2009, Minister of Immigration, Jonathan Coleman told the Transport & Industrial Relations Select Committee that he was going to employ an “external adviser” in the Immigration Service. Someone who was independent who would “operate in the same way that a management consultant would in a business situation, reporting to him”. If he felt like it, he would pass on any key messages to the Chief Executive, but would not guarantee that information would be shown to him. The report from the Select Committee to Parliament says :

“Some of us are concerned that the appointment of an external adviser, in a parallel reporting arrangement alongside the chief executive, may conflict with the requirements of the State Sector Act 1988, which makes departmental chief executives responsible for employees in their departments, and the Public Finance Act 1989, which makes them responsible for expenditure. The Minister, however, maintains that the State Services Commissioner is comfortable with the arrangement and would not have advised the Minister to proceed with the appointment if it breached the technical provisions of either piece of legislation.”

Not so, it seemed. On 1 July, there was an advertisment in the Dominion for a Deputy Chief Executive, reporting to the Chief Executive of the Department of Labour (as Labour said he should) and not Jonathan Coleman. We think he got biffed by the State Services Commission and had to back down.

An announcement of the appointment was made on the 12 November, not by Minister Coleman, but by the Chief Executive of the Department of Labour, Christopher Blake.

And then, at the recent financial review of the Department of Labour, we got the whole story. It cost more than $107,000 to recruit Jonathan’s minder, who after all, isn’t a minder. They searched around the world and came up with Nigel Bickle, currently Deputy Chief Executive, Sector Capability with the Department of Building and Housing, who will take up the new role early this year.

The costs of filling the position of Deputy Chief Executive (Immigration) as given in response to Labour’s questions at the recent financial review were :

Advertising (in NZ and offshore) $23,559.24
Interview Costs $4,314.50
Testing Process (five candidates) $31,000.00
Executive Appointments Fee & Disbursements $48,401.20
Total $107,274.94

These are only the recruitment costs – I have no idea what the salary is.

Minister Coleman isn’t the first in the National Act government to try to politicise the public service.  But this one not only backfired, but has cost taxpayers a lot of money.


What’s dumb?

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 28th, 2010

John Key’s response to Phil Goff’s announcement today about capping CEO pay in the Public Service was to call the idea “dumb”.

He says that the problem is not that we have too many wealthy people in New Zealand, but too many people who earn very low levels of income.

He went on to say that a big focus of his Government had been to lift wages.

Now how’s that?

Is it through wage freezes and the loss of thousands of jobs?

Or is it increasing the minimum wage by a pathetic 25 cents?

Or is it by paying half a million bucks for a report by Don Brash that was in the rubbish bin before it was even made public?

Sorry, but these comments show how out of touch Key and his government are.

They’re happy for the party on the top floor to rage on while workers at the bottom get nothing.

I call that dumb.


People do want to work

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 22nd, 2010

2,500 people lined up all day yesterday to apply for 150 jobs in a new Countdown supermarket in South Auckland. The queue stretched right around the block for most of the day.

We’re not talking glam jobs here. We’re talking trolley boys, checkout operators, and butcher and delicatessen roles on low pay and unsociable hours.

Some people were lined up for two hours before the interviews were due to start at 9am. Many were turned away without an interview. This is on top of the 1700 who turned up last month looking for a job at a Pukekohe Countdown in March.

It shows that people want to work. It also shows the impact of the recession.

John Key has work to do.

And I think it shows some thoughtlessness by Countdown. Keeping people lined up all day in the street in the hope of an interview is pretty demeaning. Surely they could have come up with a better process?

Tags:
Filed under: economy, workforce

How miserly can you be?

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 18th, 2010

Among the raft of changes proposed by the government in its ACC bill (currently being considered by Select Committee), is a miserly provision that injured workers who lose their jobs have to use up their holiday pay before weekly compensation is paid.

So, in addition to losing your job – usually because of the injury or redundancy – you lose the holiday pay that you earned before you were injured.

How mean is this? And what’s the point? The Cabinet paper recommending these and the other changes to ACC says that the estimated savings would be just over $1 million – most of it in the earners account. Savings yes, but paid for by workers’ hard-earned money. The stunningly dumb risk assessment says that :

“Claimants may think its unfair to have weekly compensation abated because of annual leave accrued while they were earning or accrued in a previous financial year but was not paid until termination of employment.”

Even Treasury warned that the relatively small savings didn’t seem to justify the unfairness of the provision.

So, if you take your holidays, you get ACC.  If you don’t, because you’re too busy (or hardworking) to take the time off, or you are saving the holiday time to be with your family, forget it.

The truth is that this is just one example of the government’s ACC changes that will shift the cost of the injury to the worker (and the health and welfare system).

After all the debate on this blog in the past few days about so-called welfare bludgers and keeping your own money, I wonder what people think of this one.


Downward envy?

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 15th, 2010

My blog on fining the rich more for repeat driving offences has provoked some thoughtful contributions, but also some angry ones, like this email I received.

It’s titled  “Socialists are clowns” and the person writes :

“I have always despised socialists and their politics of envy, however you take the cake with your suggestion of fining those on higher incomes more than those on lower incomes. First of all those who are on higher incomes tend to be more honest, higher achievers, more responsible and actually contribute to rather than take from society. I happen to be a person who through hard work and effort have managed to get myself into a position where I am one of the 3% who contribute 26% of the tax take to this ridiculous socialist state that NZ has been turned into. I am sick and tired of having this money stolen from me every fortnight and given to useless, irresponsible individuals who have been given every chance in life, however, have decided to take the easy bludging way out.”

There’s more I won’t share, because it’s pretty abusive, but you get the drift.

On the whole, I find Kiwis pretty generous and caring, so I am always taken aback to hear these kind of opinions.  However, everyone has the right to express their point of view – and that’s why I like Red Alert, because anyone can say (pretty much) what they think.

Let me be clear. This view of the world is not confined to those on higher incomes and nor do I want to imply that all those better off support this attitude – because I know that isn’t true.  I’ve heard similar refrains from people from a range of economic circumstances and backgrounds.

Some describe this as “downward envy”- in other words, battlers who feel they are missing out on something given to others who aren’t as deserving or hard-working, or as one analyst put it “the unhealthy desires of some people to ensure that anyone they deem to be lower on the social and economic scale than themselves stays there.”

In the book I referred to recently, called “How to argue with an economist” author Lindy Edwards writes that the (Australian) economic reform agenda of the 1980s taught Aussies that they live in a “dog eat dog” world, where they had to struggle against one another to survive.

“In the national rhetoric quality of life was replaced with economic efficiency, security became a competitive edge and a fair go became a knock-down drag-out affair.”

The economic reform programme undermined Australia’s commitment to equality and the gap between the haves and the have-nots widened. The Labor government tried to cushion the blow by increasing the social wage, which included government funded family assistance, targeted at the least well-off and those who lost their jobs.

But Edwards says this changed the culture of equality. A social stigma was attached to “dole bludgers” and middle income earners began to resent the “handouts” as they lost ground because they were excluded from the support targeted at the lowest income groups.

This was the downward envy that Pauline Hanson was able to capture so effectively in her One Nation Party and in New Zealand, Don Brash captured downward envy in his Orewa speech in a way that took many of us by surprise.  The National government is mining this vein again with Paula Bennett’s moves on making the unemployed reapply for the dole every 12 months and forcing mothers to work.

Will this satisfy people like my emailer and what would make him feel less begrudging of those who are not doing as well as he is?

One of the reasons I’m in Labour is a belief in fairness, security and dignity for everyone, not just a few.

I suppose it depends on what you think that means.


Here’s an idea – bigger fines for richer people

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 13th, 2010

Summer is the time when road safety is big on the news, with accidents solemnly reported on the news every day.

The latest this week has been the call for tourists to be better educated in New Zealand road safety before they get behind the wheel. This does of course assume that foreign drivers are not as safe as New Zealanders and I’m not sure that’s true. There have been some awful crashes involving tourists this summer, but in most cases, it was not their driving that caused the accident.

So I was interested to read in the NZ Herald today that European countries are pegging speeding fines to income as a way to punish wealthy offenders who ignore tickets. Apparently, Swiss voters approved a 2007 penal law overhaul that lets judges fine people based on personal income and wealth for moderate offences including excessive speeding and drunk driving.

The latest is a millionaire Ferrari driver in Switzerald, described as a “traffic thug” by the Swiss Court, who was fined F295,000 (NZ $392,000)

Apparently, the court took into account the man’s history of similar offences and his estimated personal wealth of more than US$20 million.

Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries all issue fines based on a person’s wealth. In Germany the fines can be as much as US$16 million compared with only US$1 million in Switzerland.

While the average driver is likely to get a more modest fine, Switzerland does seem to have had a real problem with wealthy foreigners hiring cars and conducting races on Swiss roads.

Last year a court fined six men from Hong Kong up to €95,000 after they raced through Switzerland in hired Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins and Audis at speeds of up to 230km an hour. A Frenchman was fined 70,000 francs after being caught on a highway doing 243 km/h.

I haven’t noticed a lot of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other luxury cars speeding dangerously around New Zealand roads, but I am intrigued by the idea of fining people who break the law according to their wealth. Something for Mr Joyce to think about as he prepares his policy announcements on the 2020 Transport Safety Strategy.


Pete Bethune and the whale killers

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 8th, 2010

By now everyone will have worked out that the Ady Gil, the boat that has been all but destroyed in the whaling collision in the Antartica is New Zealander Pete Bethune’s boat – formerly known as the Earthrace.

Pete Bethune is a great New Zealander and deserves more support than he’s currently getting from the government. I’m shocked to hear McCully ducking for cover on this one when five New Zealander’s lives have been put at risk by a ship that is breaking international (and maritime) law. .

Earthrace looks like something from Mars, but is a brilliantly designed boat. It’s a tri-hull wavepiercer and it can submarine up to 7m underwater. She can travel over 13,000 nautical miles (over half way around the planet) on a single tank of fuel and she runs on 100% biodiesel made from sustainable sources. It took almost three years to build, relying on an army of volunteers.

Pete Bethune made history in the Earthrace in 2008 by beating the record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe by more than two weeks.

Now Earthrace is wrecked. They say it may be unrecoverable and could sink. The local schools, environmental groups, students and skilled professionals who donated their time to complete Earthrace will be gutted.

I’m sure that McCully and Co would have been lining up to congratulate Pete when he broke the world circumnavigation record. There’s no lining up now – except perhaps with the Japanese government.

My thoughts are with Pete and the crew as they fight to salvage Earthrace.

If the Japanese think this will stop him in his stand against whaling, however, they should think again.


Deal with this one Minister

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 6th, 2010

I’m looking forward to seeing how the Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, (named by many news media outlets as their darling politician of 2009) deals with the health workforce issues in 2010.

News today that Australia is planning to ease restrictions from April for New Zealand doctors who want to work there and with collective agreement negotiations due with nurses and doctors will be a real test for the Minister. We are entitled to hold him accountable after the rhetoric of his time in opposition and particularly about his government’s commitment to closing the wage gap with Australia.

The Senior Doctors Union (ASMS) says Austalia’s moves are a threat to the whole medical profession in New Zealand and have the potential to “suck us dry”.

Ryall has already used up all of his election promises to address the medical workforce problems. Earlier this year, he introduced a voluntary bonding scheme for Doctors, Midwives and Nurses working in hard to staff areas with the following compensation per year :

  • Doctors $10,000 net
  • Midwives $3,500 net
  • Nurses $2,833 net

Compare this with the difference in rural GP salaries in Australia :

  • New Zealand :  $150,000 for full time
  • Australia : $200,000 – $400,000, particularly in remote rural areas

New Zealand is already short of doctors in many areas, and an easing of restrictions in Australia from April is likely to increase the attraction of its higher salaries. I can’t see the voluntary bonding situation fixing that, can you?

Meanwhile, Senior Doctors have voted to negotiate “competitive terms and conditions of employment, ”including recognition that district health boards are competing in an Australian medical labour market; and that the Government is responsible for resolving the crisis”. This came after a commission set up to look at competitive terms and conditions for NZ’s senior doctors confirmed a 35% wage gap with Australia.

I’m not saying this is an easy problem to solve. What I am saying is that Ryall and his government made a meal out of the health workforce issues while they were in opposition, giving the impression that these were easy to fix.  They’ve (so far) largely ignored the industrial action of  hospital service workers who’ve been offered zero, but they won’t want large numbers of nurses and doctors creating strife as well.   The problem is the government hasn’t budgeted for any wage increases in health in 2010 and now they say the recession is over, there’s going to be some expectations.


How to argue with an economist

Posted by Darien Fenton on January 4th, 2010

I’ve just re-read a book by Australian author Lindy Edwards called “how to argue with an economist”. (Yes, I am having a good holiday, but it’s good thinking time too.)

The last chapter of the second edition was written just as John Howard’s Work Choices was coming into force and is called “the values divide in industrial relations”.

Australia has moved, says Edwards, away from a centralised wage fixing system that sought to even up the playing field and arbitrate conflict and that emphasised quality of life and protection for the vulnerable to one that tilts the playing field in favour of employers, outlaws conflict and assumes boosting business profits is the best way to meet everyone’s needs. Sound familiar?

Of course, the Rudd government has since outlawed Work Choices and reintroduced more balanced industrial laws. Unfortunately the economic rationalist argument behind labour market reform continues to be a driving factor, not least in New Zealand, where workers are currently facing the slashing of ACC, cut backs to holiday entitlements and meal breaks, with more to come in 2010.

Edwards writes that the differing views of the labour market are about values. The first values question is whether the industrial relations system should be centred on delivering quality of life and whether workers wages and conditions should be set at a community standard for businesses to work around. Or should workers lives be shifted and moulded to meeting business profits and the competitive demands of the global economy?

The second values question is whether the industrial relations system deals with protecting the vulnerable and evening up the playing field, or whether people are equal individuals already and have the power to stand up for themselves; if they can’t get what they want, they can walk away.

The third values question is over how human beings work together. Economic rationalists assume relationships are straightforward things and people will assert their interests effectively, meet an agreeable compromise and maintain good relationships. Others know this doesn’t work. Economic rationalists see regulations as restrictive, others see them as a social insitutions that helps govern relationships more smoothly.

“We must have robust debates about how we manage our economy because ultimately they are not simply about interest rates and GDP. They are about the Australia we want to live in. As we face our future, our leaders must challenge economic rationalists’ narrowly focused policy prescriptions. They need to open up their thinking to how our approach to the economy impacts on our values, our culture and our quality of life.”

There’s a lot more in this book; about privatisation, public services, quality of life and justice. It’s worth a read – in between the visits to the beach and the movies.

Filed under: economy, labour

New Year reflections

Posted by Darien Fenton on December 31st, 2009

Is New Year’s Eve time to be serious?  I suspect most people think it’s time to celebrate, and that’s what I am about to do.

So, I’ve resisted the urge to come up with a New Year’s “best (or worst) of” list on this blog, but there are plenty around.  Unfortunately, I’ve had to turn to other countries and the Huffington Post takes the prize for the best politcal ones I’ve seen so far.  But if you have any, please share (or make up your own)  :

Wall Street’s Ten biggest lies of 2009

The dumbest quotes of the 2000’s

The 12 weirdest right wing conspiracies of 2009

And many more. Go have a good laugh if you aren’t already out celebrating New Year’s Eve – and if you are, have a good laugh anyway.

See you in 2010.

Filed under: humour