Posts by Jan Farr
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re Bees: On this perfect day for bees I went out to the garden, which has bee-friendly roses. Usually my dog snaps away at flies and bees - occasionally looking a little pained when she gets one - but today, not a bee to be seen. Is there a bee conference somewhere? Or do I blame the dog?
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It's a bit tough to blame Ryall who has his sights firmly fixed on better medical services when Helen Clark etc had loads of time and ideology to move on pay equity.
Beatrice - Helen Clark etc - as you call them - did a great deal about pay equity - but unlike Tony Ryall etc. they did it the slow, democratic way - finding out where the inequities were - starting with the public service - and how female occupations could be compared with male ones. The words careful, inclusive and meticulous don't seem to be in the vocabulary of this government - rip, shit and bust and to hell with people and their silly little opinions seems to be the language they prefer.
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Labour's work on pay equity only gets media attention when the Nats (as usual) revoke it - and without consultation. It's depressing.
It follows that now Tony Ryall has revoked the years of good work on public sector pay equity, men's jobs in some areas will go, as public service managers are asked to account for every penny.
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Isn't the Police Association a union? They get a lot of TV coverage. And, I might add, you always know what Greg O'Connor is going to say, regardless of what facts are known, so it seems a little pointless.
This is an interesting point Gordon. The nature of the media is to pigeon hole 'leaders' (as Russell seems to be doing on Media 7 tonight). The nature of the union movement is much more about its members. There are real stories - but they usually belong to the vulnerable - hence the point of joining together to deal with those issues. So union members' organisations are put through the media sieve and all you get are the big blobs - the same old faces - even the same same, old old old faces. It's like saying that you've seen a whale many times so you know all about ocean life.
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rational and froth-free dissent
Craig - I don't wish to take sides in this fascinating stoush - but is rational and frothfree how you see yourself?
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But I guess this happens with any club: my wife likes us to belong to the AA - as she has been 'rescued' a few times. But we don't agree with everything they say on transport!'
Don't confuse compulsory unionism with modern unionism pKiwi. These days joining a union is a choice workers make to be involved - not just to be passively 'rescued'. If unions are involved in politics its because members decide it.
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I'd like to hear a good discussion about unions. Perhaps you could take pkiwi's post as a starting point. How did the hostility to unions that he reflects arise? Who's doing the employers' work? Is it the media? For organisations of people banding together constructively to help themselves and each other in ways that usually also help the community, unions generate an awful lot of hatred - and I think it's of the generational type - handed down through families and schools and assisted by the media's hunger for conflict. I'm a bit worried about your choice of participants. Laila - only recently involved in the movement and at a fairly lofty level - Ken - not involved for years and Grame Hunt!!! What light are you expecting him to shed on the topic? It sounds to me rather like a jolly good stoush in the making. But then that's the media's driving force I suppose - and the thing that always skews the picture. And Helen Kelly? Was she not available?
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From memory it began 'Jesus loves me this I know/gave me [something] seats for his show'.
Gave me house seats to his show. Some things I still remember.
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Tom Paxton, not Tom Lehrer. It was called 'Jesus Christ SRO'
Tom Paxton - of course!! Thank you Rob. My excuse is my slightly advanced age. No wonder I couldn't find it in the Tom Lehrer Youtube clips!
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Thanks Giovanni - I bow to your H opinion.