The horror of Zero-hour contracts are an abomination that has no place in 21st Century society.
What it effectively allows is legalised feudalism. Workers are forced to be available for work BUT they have no guarantee of any hours. So workers are kept in a state of flux until their Lord decides they need them to work.
This means workers on Zero-hour contracts have no certainty of employment and are purposely kept in a precarious economic position so that they are as weak as possible when it comes to bargaining with their employer.
The ongoing war against Unions by this Government have allowed offensive work practices to start becoming the norm, NZ – the home of the 40 hour week – should be ashamed of itself.
Is this the rock star economy at work is it?
Costas Lapavitsas ( in this link; http://youtu.be/7WHTYTvFNRU ) explains why an unemployed/ low paid population is an inevitable bi-product of modern Banking .
( This ! Hot of the Press ! Iceland starts to imprison crooked Bankers )
http://yournewswire.com/iceland-begin-to-jail-bankers/
But we know this surely ?
Is there a reason for why we don’t instead focus on what to do about them , i.e. the Banking Industry ?
Is it the spectre of legal action ?
It can’t be sedition because it’s not our Parliament per se that we might rebel against , it’s the corporates who bully, coerce and lobby it .
We’re allowing ourselves to be manipulated into accepting appallingly poor working conditions, including absurd rates of pay and zero security.
But why is that ??
That, I believe should be our focus .
We know what’s wrong . So, how to fix it ?
My suggestion would be to demand action from our elected politicians and to accept no fobbing off . Any attempt at being manipulated and misdirected should result in immediate and direct action to remove that politician from their ( Our ) office because clearly they’re not there for their constituents . They’re their for their mates in Big Business , including the Banks , so then they must go . Quickly , decisively and without apology .
Organising NZ’s population into a spear-head direct action group is of primary importance . Those very few are getting over confident and unbelievably greedy . They must go .
Here’s a suggestion to those who organise rallies . Do Not Target The Cops ! The cops are there to protect the status quo . If the status quo is not to our liking, we must change the status quo . Then ? The police will be on our side . One would hope .
When the soft, terribly reasonable sounding, family friendly, focus grouped term of “Flexibility” was coined and used liberally by the oily John Key, as per any Nationalspeak did that hide it’s true nasty meaning.
The trouble is with zero hours and what the imbeciles in the business world that lust after feudal working conditions never see is this produces the lowest productive, most unstable workforce you can have. Few people like having the piss taken out of them and even less enjoy being treated like shit by their employers. So they come to work, when allowed, always having their eye on the door both in their work day and in their desire to get out of the place permanently. Its a shit job for a shit employer and they know it!
I would love to see a highly visible published list of the arseholes who use zero hour or its close relative minimum hour contracts (SkyCity) so we the public can vote with our wallets. National couldn’t care less, far from it, they want it, so someone has to take a stand.
Zero hour contracts are also a way to distort the unemployment figures and disrupt the individual’s welfare payments, which constantly have to be recalculated.
Not only are they are a form of economic feudalism, they are also the ultimate employer means of keeping base wages down and eliminating all the other “fringe” benefits like penal rates, allowances, meal money, sick pay, etc.
Big business and their allies the NACTS have worked long and hard figuring out how they can eliminate the traditional 40 hour week permanent employee society of New Zealand. It is all done in the name of progress but it is more about the right wing ideology of removing the last remaining rights that workers gained under the first Labour government.
Good timely post Martyn,
Recall the icon of the NZ food producer Watties?
During this unregulated era and Century we have seen this icon reduced to a shell of it’s former glory, due to the by buyout/takeover merges or whatever colourful spin they place on what the Watties takeover was.
Now Heinz the global giant runs Watties effectively, and in Hastings where Watties was founded by the late Jim Wattie, it is still one of the largest centres of production, we are hearing employees even there are now on zero hours and turn up not knowing if they even have any work for the day, and may then may get two hours and then forced to go home.
Many are now desperate because they need to pay bills/mortgages and this used to be during the 1950- 2000 ear as the principal employer in the region so we are witnessing zero hours destructive capability at work in our own back yard.
Damn the National ragbags for their wilful destruction of our provincial communities for greed.
If this is correct then we should boycott Watties products.
Their greedy shareholders and filthy rich upper echelon of management need a plain message, shit on New Zealanders and at least some of us will shit on you.
To allow these kind of appalling labour laws means National really do not give a fuck about anyone but their rich mates.
Why do workers who already have a job switch to jobs that involve a zero hours contract? What do they gain? Why give up a job with regular hours for a job that has none?
How many people do you know that have done this? I’m picking none. The answer to your question is that they don’t. Those on zero hour contracts are those who would otherwise be unemployed. So even though its a crock of shit, the chance is there that they might earn some money sometime soon.
The mere principle of zero hour contracts is wrong. And yes I do know people on it. And yes, it does give some employment to people who people who have the luxury to be able to work on demand, but at the expense of people seeking full time work, like families. (and I bet this post is not subject to the the Daily Blogs censorship knife as my last 2 have where I dared to express a different view to that of the columnist)
Unacceptably offensive comment deleted. – ScarletMod
These are terrible. How are people suppose to pay weekly fixed commitments on precarious employment. No good!
The unions we set up after the depression of late 20s,people were starving ,put out of their homes,a time of real poverty ,and the greedy bankers etc gained many farms and properties.
Then came world war 2,of which the big money made more money with the sale of armaments and all the paraphanalia attatched to war,people getting killed didn’t matter to the big money ,they were just the collateral damage to achieve ends.
After the war things changed unions were formed and changed the lives of British people,with the motto united win devided we fall.
We need the unions back and stronger than ever.
National has rubbished unions as they rubbish any opposition to their money making .
National used strikes that held things up as a lever to get rid of unions ,the strikes were mostly valid to look after the workers jobs, but were portrayed as trouble makers,and the gullible bought into that idea.
Some unions used strikes to jusify their fees, now they need to concentrate again on the needs of poorly paid and underprivileged.
Workers these days have no one to stand and fight for decent conditions,thats why the money influenced people into believing unions
unessesary,
. Now its for unions to build up and override the money for better conditions.
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