Matt McCarten and Labour
Matt McCarten has joined Labour as the leader, David Cunliffe’s, chief of staff. If I hated elections and thought they were just a distraction designed to dupe the poor, then I would be worried cause Matt might just be able to get some of the 800,000 to 1 million non-voters interested in voting again. But […]
Migrant Workers Abuse Scandal in Christchurch: Immigration Bill Not the Answer
In early January there was a rerun of stories in the media about a new law to “crackdown on migrant exploitation.” When the Immigration Amendment Bill No. 2 was introduced in Parliament in October last year First Union highlighted the case of Filipino workers in Christchurch being told that they must work on Saturdays without […]
Web Round-Up: February
A round-up of interesting links and articles from February. The Government was recently revealed to have used ‘mistaken’, i.e. bad, i.e. wrong data in its estimates of child poverty, which – surprise surprise – meant they underestimated the number of children who currently do not have the means to a decent standard of living in New […]
WINZ: Poverty and Pep Talks
Yesterday I attended a ‘work for you seminar’ at the WINZ office on Queen Street, central Auckland. After the usual waiting around for 30 mins we went into the work seminar room. To my horror I look up and see an supposedly inspirational quote from Margret Thatcher on the wall… “I do not know any […]
Boycott Batsheva at NZ Festival
This year’s NZ Festival includes four performances by the Israeli Batsheva dance company. Batsheva is an integral part of Israel’s Brand Israel public relations campaign. The dance company receives funding from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which has described Batsheva as ‘the best known global ambassador of Israeli culture’. Artists who receive funding […]
Tokyo Elections and the Future of the Anti-Nuclear Movement
What to make of the Tokyo gubernatorial election results? How can we organize a campaign to stop reactivating nuclear power plants that connects the whole country? How effective is the “single-issue” focus? On 9 February, amidst the biggest snowfall in 45 years Tokyo held its gubernatorial election. Only 46.14% of eligible voters turned out, the third lowest turnout on record. […]
Banners on the Beach with Oil Free Otago
As Anadarko’s drilling ship lurks some 60km off Otago’s coast, hundreds flocked, flags flying, to Oil Free Otago’s “Banners on the Beach”. As I approached St Clair beach, walking through one of Dunedin’s more yuppyish suburbs, the only sign of a protest I saw was an airplane trailing a banner that read “pro gas for […]
All the way for equal pay
Kristine Bartlett is a hero. She and her union, the SWFU, are spearheading the fight for equal pay through the courts. Last year Bartlett was in the Employment Court to argue that her miserable $14.46 an hour after 20 years experience as a caregiver breached the Equal Pay Act 1972. Her reasoning was that her […]
No Pride in National
Last Sunday, the Auckland Pride Festival kicked off with the LYC Big Gay Out, a pride event attracting 15,000 people, as well as some politicians. While Gay Pride events have a history stretching back to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, and have been powerful protest actions fighting against homophobia, in recent years such events have […]
Engineers and Servos Ponder Mega-Merger Union
Two of Aotearoa’s largest unions, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) — my union — and the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU), may merge early next year. Members of both unions will vote on this in June. With about 56,000 members, a merged union would be by far the largest private sector union […]
