How should new Government deal with wave of industrial actions?

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If only the public service unions were this brave under National eh?

Unfortunately for the new Government, the lack of courage from the Public Service Unions, (who wouldn’t fart without John Key’s permission), means that the decades worth of built up frustration of public service workers all falls upon Jacinda to clean up.

This is going to be an enormous challenge to the new Government because not only did this lack of fortitude by the Unions for a decade mean the expectations are astronomical, social media networks allow workers to connect with each other to become far more militant.

Unions are effectively losing control of their members who are have been so rarked up by their own interaction with one another via social media that nothing less than a giant increase is going to be accepted.

Ineffective Union Leadership + self-saucing member militancy on social media = bad times for Jacinda.

The new Government didn’t appreciate how underfunded the entire system had become and with hindsight may have thought twice about signing up to a debt plan to keep our Overseas Corporate Masters happy, but the ‘Budget Responsibility Rules’ now in place, once breached, could lead to a credit downgrade which would push up borrowing and screw those with a mortgage.

You think the middle classes feel hard done by now, imagine how they will be if there is a $200 a week jump in their mortgage repayments.

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Nevertheless, Nurses, Teachers and many other public servants who do some of the most essential work we need to keep society running  must have pay rises as well as a vast increase in the resources necessary to keep those services not only running but excelling.

So what is to be done?

There are around 26 000 nurses, 55 000 teachers  and three rules.

Rule one is never  go to war with teachers because there are too many of them.

Rule two is to get these industrial disputes off the front pages because it only confirms in the minds of the middle voter that Labour is too weak to stop their Union mates ganging up on them.

Rule three, these union members vote and if they don’t get satisfaction from Jacinda, they won’t vote Labour again, so ensuring they feel respected and rewarded is vital for this Government’s re-election prospects.

The issue for the new Government is that they can’t fix all the underfunding in the first budget, perhaps that then is the means to resolve this. If public sector unions met the Government on this point and agreed to a collective agreement with what is on the table with an understanding from the Government that this could be renegotiated with an eye to increase salaries and conditions in 12 months for the next budget, there could be a means forward towards resolution.

If the Public Sector Unions agreed with Winston he can’t fix 9 years of National’s underfunding with the first budget but get resolution to do that for next year, the members would get a better deal, the Unions would stop giving National the ammunition to kill off the new Government in 2020 and the new Government could take back the media narrative.

Public Union leadership should focus less on desperately trying to look effective after a decade of hiding from National and focus more on building a relationship with the current Government that genuinely benefits their members and the quality of service for the users of those services.

32 COMMENTS

  1. Simple. Crash the property market and make accommodation and housing affordable for key workers, not just for Gary Lin.

  2. Yes Martyn “if only unions were as bave as this while under National”?

    It seems as if perhaps some union leaders are ‘national sleepers, to upset & disrupt the new Government?

    A very good question I say too.

  3. +100 good post!…not a few people think nurses are being hard nosed and greedy…and not everyone has had a positive experience with them!

    …there are so many needs in the health system which have built up over the last nine years of the jonkey corrupt uncaring National government

    … eg New Zealands’ elderly ( decent frugal people and tax payers all their lives)have been sorely neglected in the public health system

    …there have been no checks and balances as to how they have been treated

    …patient medical drug charts are not necessarily released by hospitals ( citing doctor and nurse privacy and confidentiality!) Where is the accountability?

    …the Health and Disability Commission is completely ineffective to deal with complaints…there needs to be a Commission of Inquiry into the Health and Disability Commission.

    The HDC needs to be called to account … how the HDC has dealt or rather not dealt with complaints and how NZs elderly and disabled have been treated in Public Hospitals

    Let us not forget what has been happening in at least one British hospital

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/360123/dangerous-use-of-drugs-uk-inquiry-into-patient-deaths

    …how can we be sure it has not been happening here?

    …eg. how are our elderly and disabled and those with hearing loss, being safeguarded? How many are being diagnosed with dementia when they are in fact drugged and overdosed up to the eyeballs? How many are being put to death prematurely?

    • 100% RED BUZZARD PERFECTLY SUMMERISED THERE;

      I found the MoH does not care aout any individual who complains about services as they have been so dismissive of any issues we sent them over the last nine years.

    • They don’t have to be drugged up to be diagnosed with dementia.This happened to my elderly ill neighbour with a shocker of a letter from the DHB following a hospital visit. Fortunately her English Hons homestay student deciphered the letter, addressed it in a written reply, and got the treatment for her medical conditions back on track.

      She has been subject to some trying experiences, including have a male occupational therapist come to observe her cooking her evening meal to ‘see if she is coping’. And worse things. I have told her that she doesn’t have to let anyone inside her house except a police officer with a warrant, but she is too intimidated to say no.

  4. I lost a family member to cancer which led me to buy a computer and just keep researching. Here’s what I found. Cancer is a money spinner!!! I have no respect for the “health” industry. If food is our medicine then we are all being told it’s okay to eat poison.
    There is huge argument ongoing now about whether the earth is round or flat. Frankly I don’t care given that the science taught can be argued as being false and following a Jesuit-led agenda. According to alt-news pundits the wealthy elite are looking for safe havens because atmospheric aerosol injection led by Harvard University Prof David Keith has taken the tolerance of earth beyond it’s capabilities and earth is now dying…which teacher is telling his class this. jonkey rushed wifi into school classrooms…did the teachers dig into the massive info put out by microwave expert Barrie Trowers to investigate the harm being done in their classrooms.
    Government departments are just that. Mind control departments. Mindless minions told what laws to enforce on the naive obedient slaves of the British Throne which never and will never release its control, and on whose behalf, N.Z. has challenged China to demilitarize its new islands in the South China Sea…or else. Or else what?
    And the people obeying and continuing this bullshit want more money! From whose pocket will this money be stolen???
    Red team or blue team….it’s all a bloody stage play.

  5. Your best blog yet. I don’t consider the PSA a union, and yet its past ineffective leader now leads the FOL…what else can we expect from such a person. The cure you suggest is yet again a cave-in to a right-wing pretend peoples party.
    Seriously this present government wont even oppose Donald Trump over the most basic elements of human behaviour. Capitalism in reality is proving to be a massive failure.

    This present government needs to ‘show some guts’ and take the big step of increasing the top tax rate from 32cents in the dollar to at least 55cents. By doing this it would prove their REAL commitment to the great mass of our citizens. They have to stop pandering to the wealthy and govern for all the people.

    For the bulk of our people nothing short of the taking back of financial control will do. The Government at present is nothing more than a heartles and gutless replica of the PSA of the past two decades.

    Thus far the government is simply attempting to follow the middle line. And I might add failing for the most part.

    • Oh I failed to add that finding out that Talleys donated ten thousand dollars to their best mate Shane Jones simply proves my point. He is a clear indicator that the present crowd are just as bad as the last lot.

    • How is increasing PAYE gonna work when the rich listers don’t pay the top tax rate, companies turning over multimillions post little taxable income, people can come over and invest millions in a house they live in and then claim welfare as have no income, and anyone can turn themselves into a trust or business?

      Targeting the doctors who just spent 7 years studying and paying massive student loans is not really the 21 century way to target equality.

      To respond to globalism governments need to look at Robin Hood tax and ways to tax dual residents living here, and maybe have huge wealth, but earning little taxable income…

      Note capital gains taxes target taxable income, there needs to be a way to tax more fairly at source and in a way that is not able to be avoided. aka stamp duty on property and other measures.

  6. 4.7 million people
    NZ/AO 30 k square km’s bigger than UK
    Fabulously rich in vital resources
    So, where’s our money?
    Find our money then give it to the people who may be the last people you see before you head into the next life.
    Give it to the people who will do their very best to arm your children for the cluster fuck nightmare that will be their post-Orwellian lives.
    Who has our money? Where is our money? Who took our money?
    Those are important questions. They must be answered. Before ANYTHING else. We must go back. Fix shit up. Push the reset button and carry on.

  7. S&P Global Ratings says New Zealand’s credit rating is unlikely to shift if the Government takes on more debt.

    Public support for striking nurses is overwhelming. Therefore, the public want to see nurses demands being met.

    The public want safer patient care, thus the Government won’t look weak facilitating a settlement. It will look like they are delivering on improving the heath system.

    Currently, Labour are on the wrong side of this dispute. Therefore, they potentially risk turning workers in the public sector (and the public that largely supports them) against them.

    Jacinda knows too well the importance of bringing the public on board. Hence, it would be wise for her to show leadership upon her return and help facilitate a amicable settlement that satisfactorily addresses nurses concerns.

  8. The quick answer is for recalcitrant workers is vote National in, end any hope of meaningful wage adjustments, return to budget cuts and staff losses and complete what appears to be the privatisation of the health sector.

    Nurses sub contract in, nurses hired from third world countries willing to work for less, no more industrial problems, job done.

    That is a probable outcome if nurses don’t compromise in the meantime!

  9. What union leaders and so called left social commentators need to realise is that NO government is a friend to workers. while this labour lead gov is better than what the alternative could have been a English lead gov. labour lead gov is merely re-arranging the deck chairs, they still follow the neo-lib agenda.

  10. Can Labour please stop feeding the NZ Super fund. Accounting conventions mean they done even get credit for it on the net debt target

  11. Time to stop blaming the Natz…like they used to blame Labour. Just get on with it. Teachers and nurses are the backbone of this country and deserve better. Teachers work their arses off, are swamped with useless bureaucracy from the MOE which is full of overpaid useless consultants and policy makers, none of whom have ever set foot in a classroom, all working a nice cushy 9-5 day with an hour off for lunch and yoga! All they ever do is dream up more compliance and paperwork. No wonder they have no time at the coalface, it’s all just filling out forms.

    • +1 STRU

      Too many policy makers are out of touch and completely impractical. They also seem to spread, start with a few and before long massive amounts of money is shifted away from he essential workers to the burgeoning increases of policy makers and consultants who are taking money that could be used to increase the pay of those actually working at the coal face!

  12. Winston has a few buses on the way to the bus stop of recovery……all aboard but wait your turn.

    More than a coincidence that buses are traditionally red in colour.

  13. The Nurses and the Teachers –

    As people have noted, Teachers and Nurses are among the most important persons in our entire community.

    They need to be valued and resourced. On a daily basis

    Teachers may ask among themselves whether the former strange government called National paid them fairly and resourced them adequately.

    Nurses must ask the same questions.

    Teachers are being told by persons such as Simon Bridges and Amy Adams that there are massive amounts of money available to pay the Nurses and Teachers (and anyone else apparently) as much as they want. Right now.

    Bridges and Adams are telling lies. For John Key and Billy English have run our Debt up in excess of $100 Billion. They have an appalling record on money management. REF Stats NZ. Besides, they want to give Tax gifts to the very wealthy. These things are FACTS.

    By the new Government, Nurses and Teachers are being offered rises now and to have further Pay increases in steps. Their Staffing Numbers increased also.

    Nurses will know if John Key looked after their needs. Teachers will know if John Key gave a damn for Schools – (except for very posh private schools; and funky schools that did not have to employ any qualified teachers at all.).

    The new Government is not Funky. It does not hide Truth. It will not go into unmanageable Debt. It will put foundations down and provide Housing. It will get outrageous criminal Rents down.

    In brief – it will clean up the mess and the stupidity of the most dirty politicians our Aotearoa has ever encountered. But it will take time.

    Step by Step. The Majority of you are women. Your PM Jacinda, is a Woman.

    Drop the capitalists. Drop the Liars. They don’t give a stuff about you. Get on with the New Government. Bring Back Public Health and Education.

  14. there were exceptions under National–Unite and First union members, and to a lesser extent Etū, never stopped taking industrial action in fast food, logistics, transport and retail etc.

    • a number of teachers and nurses vote bloody National, they view their unions as an insurance policy instead necessarily a vehicle for working class struggle
    • the PSA is the worst by not tackling the cultures at WINZ/MSD
    • the NZCTU is a rudderless ship with Wagstaff at the helm

    but Govt ministries and DHBs intimidated workers and National kept the union busting legislation coming, including doing away with paid meal and toilet breaks! if you recall…

    so the upsurge in workers action is a bit of a mixed bag of reasons and history, but still the government should do several things in my view–make it easier for workers to take industrial action, AND abolish WFF–In Work Tax Credits, for the middle class so these people have to get organised and obtain their own wage increases from employers and lead contractors etc

  15. Interesting to note that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has vowed to slim down Mexico’s bloated government budget by taking a massive pay cut when he takes over as president in December. As I’ve mentioned before the leaders of our coalition government could have also set a good example by reducing their own salaries when they took office. This is called leading from the front. If they had done this they could also have passed a law to do away with private sector salaries for public sector & local body government bosses.

  16. I don’t think the middle classes will blame labour because everyone knows that wages are going nowhere these days and we have become a low wage nation.

    But they still need to be paid and so Labour has to find a way to bridge the gap.

    If they can afford millions on defence under their self imposed Budget Responsibility Rules going to overseas companies maybe they should not be Mr scrooge on the Kiwi’s who actually live in this country and have been denied a decent pay rise for a decade like the nurses and other essential workers.

    • And the government seem quite keen to keep the prices up on property by allowing the foreign speculation of land, assets and farms and new builds!

      So how are essential workers ever going to be able to afford to buy a house and live in expensive cities like Auckland (even renting) when the government say yes to Singapore speculators buying up apartments, or the foreign student for profit to compete against the humble nurse or teacher?

      Policy speaks. And NZ policy seems to undervalue essential service workers (not even giving them first dibs at Kiwibuild which arguably they can’t afford anyway) while thinking anything foreign to be speculated should be encouraged to drive up prices for developers and banks.

  17. For your information, the current mecca expired a year ago,the previous was settled 2013, the one before 2010, one post economic collapse the other post earthquake,thats two under national. Nurses were encouraged to be selfless and take the bare minimum, DHB management didn’t follow the same rules and took all that was available.

  18. For your information, the current mecca expired a year ago,the previous was settled 2013, the one before 2010, one post economic collapse the other post earthquake,thats two under national. Nurses were encouraged to be selfless and take the bare minimum, DHB management didn’t follow the same rules and took all that was available.

  19. Its easy, the government should stop making promises and building up peoples hopes when it does not have a clue how to implement its strategies – I think its called spin – disgraceful behaviour !!!

  20. This government needs to stop making promises that it does not have a clue or a strategy to implement – I think its called spin – disgraceful behaviour. winnie and cindy need to act their act together fast it will soon be election time!

  21. While all this is happening National is looking on and laughing.
    They are laughing because they can’t believe their luck: they can’t believe that New Zealanders are even bigger fools than they thought.
    Nine years of running government services into the ground so that they are little more than animated skeletons waiting for a strong wind to blow the bones apart.
    The strong winds have happened but the perpetrators are safely behind the opposition doors and can avoid all responsibility for the blowout and enjoy watching Labour try to fix it all, deriding them at will.
    You can’t fix nine years of disasters in less than one year, yet so many New Zealanders have this illusion that Labour can do it without a black budget.
    We need to get real on this, and pull together or else we will be back to square one with National coming back into government to resume their dismantling of the public sector services.

  22. Rule four ; accept that many nurses actually vote National and the PSA doesn’t represent them ; its the NZNO.
    Rule five ; don’t shit on unions in the middle of an industrial dispute.
    Rule six : don’t wait to educate workers and politicise them until bargaining time. The outcome is obvious.

  23. Rule four ; accept that many nurses actually vote National along with public servants.
    Rule five ; don’t shit on unions in the middle of an industrial dispute.
    Rule six : don’t wait to educate workers and politicise them until bargaining time. The outcome is obvious.

    • Darien, You are correct, the same goes for the teachers – you won’t find many Labour supporters amongst either of these professions, they are a group of moaning, wingeing middle-class National supporters who have allowed their wages to lag behind because they would not upset the political party who otherwise looks after them with low taxation for the wealthy, no capital gains tax for those making mega bucks with house sales.

      These same middle class wingeing moaners would never put their hands up to help the real low paid workers who struggle to earn enough to pay their rents let alone put food on the table for their families. I wonder how teachers or nurses would have coped with being employed on zero hour contracts.

      I see the ACC Doctors are now striking for better conditions and pay – National Party must be screaming with delight.

  24. I said it repeatedly before the government was formed, Labour and Greens should have stayed well clear off this attractive temptation to take on charge. They should have left it to Nats and NZ First to dig the grave and hole even deeper, until things would totally collapse and fall to pieces, Labour should then have taken a Corbyn kind of attack line, would have won the next election clean and sweet, and would have three terms ahead of them to truly reform and restructure this country and society to become humane and functional again.

    They chose, with charming Jacinda Dear, the short term and easy option, and they will blow it, for good, for years to come.

    Sad really, sad so sad.

  25. well these hardworking undervalued nurses and teaches are being prats in my book….im a union member and activist and support these folks but why is it they insist on 9 yrs of shit being fixed in one shot….get real…..what were your unions doing for the last nine years?????….now you foist it all on this govt….selfish in the extreme….they have had a good offer now get on with it…..smacks of me me me and fuck everyone else attitude.

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