Posts by Kumara Republic
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Combine that with the fact that they have let their legal status in NZ lapse and I think you have a clear case of Australian interference in the NZ industry.
The Underarm with clapsticks, methinks?
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I once worked with a couple of actors who'd delight in repeats of The Bill -- another little bit of cash from their bit parts.
IIRC, Mike Sengelow had a minor role in that show as - get this - an Aussie overstayer.
Irrespective of whatever side of the fence anyone is on, the MEAA is increasingly looking like it can't organise a piss-up in a brewery. They're acting more like a business cartel than a union.
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I didn't like that. The government doesn't tend to jump in and offer legal opinions on other disputes between unions and private parties. No doubt he did so because it was a public issue that many ordinary NZers felt invested in so it seemed like good politics.
But in negotiations between private employers and employees (contractors) the most useful role the government can play is neutral mediator. That becomes a lot more difficult when they've already made statements which come down on one side.
@Kyle M: Again it highlights the inconsistency of state-imposed arbitration. All it did was to help stoke the industrial turmoil of a generation ago, and only started receding when the state stepped back.
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And regarding the Govt's intervention in the Hobbit War, I would have thought that compulsory arbitration was a big factor in the industrial unrest of the 1970s & 80s - since Muldoon typically forced a settlement in favour of management, giving an excuse for the unions to strike again, even in 'essential' industries like ports. But when the Lange Govt started refusing to intervene, disputes surprisingly started to recede.
And still on industrial matters, can the Tolley vs PPTA dispute get any more toxic? Was it any worse under Merv Wellington? If things go thermonuclear, I see one of two outcomes: Tolley does a 1951, declares an educational state of emergency and de-registers the PPTA; or Tolley is forced to resign after being padlocked in her office by hundreds of pissed-off educationalists.
As I see it, it's not just about teacher pay - it's also the fact that social work has effectively been foisted on teachers by successive Govts. If 'National Standards' is merely a Trojan horse to crush the PPTA, why be so secret about it? -
But when you put it like that, as food stamps, suddenly it doesn't sound like such a good thing. It is, however, the effect this proposed exemption is dreaming of.
Zero GST on produce seems to be the carrot to the food stamp stick.
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What timing. Bernard Hickey is tiring of the kool aid.
By the looks of it, at the very least he's going Gareth Morgan (from apostle to agnostic). At most he could even be going Joseph Stiglitz (apostle to outright apostate).
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A general increase in income won't lead to an increase in healthier food, as you haven't changed the priority by changing the relative prices.
I read once that Texan oil barons were a case in point, with all the t-bone steaks and what-not.
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To muddy the waters further, Sir Peter is himself a member of a union, I'd hazard a guess it's the SAG or DGA.
The wider issue does smell of Hollywood runaway production politics.