Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.
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EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist language, homophobic language, racist language, anti-muslim hate, transphobic language, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/post-covid-podcast/story/2018749746/after-the-virus-work
“You might decide that actually, I don’t need to work for an organisation in the place where I live. I can work somewhere else,” Curzon said. “We might actually see more free market, labour movement and the global citizen emerge.”
Some useful links:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/26/will-we-get-by-gig-economy
https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/freelancers-nhr-and-the-simplified-regime/42480
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/gig-economy-global/522954/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/digital-platforms-gig-workers-labour-rights/
https://psmag.com/social-justice/portugal-instates-a-not-so-basic-housing-law
https://www.toptal.com/insights/future-of-work/traditional-employment-gig-economy
https://qz.com/1556194/the-gig-economy-is-quietly-undermining-a-century-of-worker-protections/
https://nzbusiness.co.nz/article/gig-economys-benefits-and-risks
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-the-gig-economy-is-in-danger/
California’s new law takes effect January 1 and it will curtail freelancers and independent contractors—including those who work in tech—and other states are following suit.
The gig or the sharing economy?
https://workresearch.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/88523/The-Future-of-Work-prez-upgrade.pdf
Willing to work from home? Open plan offices may make you sick.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2005/S00226/welcome-deaths-coronavirus-and-the-open-plan-office.htm
..Since becoming a reality of Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision of democratised, spatial openness, supposedly found in the 1906 Larkin Administration Building in New York, it has continued to attract stern critics and a distinct imbecilic enthusiasm.
Did such plans enhance cooperation in a transparent setting with fewer boundaries on human “collaboration”? Not so, according to Ethan S. Bernstein and Stephen Turban. The authors found a decline in face-to-face interaction “with an associated increase in electronic interaction.” From such open-planned spaces emerge the hostile, the estranged, the disengaged…
Britain’s combative broadcaster Jeremy Paxman is even more pointed in his blows. “An open-plan office is a way of telling you that you don’t matter.” You get given allotted hours at some pod or work station; personal touch is eschewed “while opposite you someone you don’t know shouts into the telephone to a person sitting in an almost identical human warehouse in Bangalore.”
Without fossil fuels probably half if not more of humanity will face starvation and imminent death, so how is the transition to a sustainable society going, here, and elsewhere?
I got this interesting letter from a mate of mine who has been in the rail industry for many years and wished to share it with anyone who is interested in rail especially the ‘Government’ as they are in the planing stages of restoring rail in NZ.
This was from: stu dow 12/6/20.
Subject: Another order mooted for DL locos… (RNZ, 11 June 2020): Article Link here https://amp.rnz.co.nz/article/6a326863-3224-40cf-9a78-66ade9251587
My first reaction to this was “Are you kidding me”.
It has been well-known in New Zealand’s rail fraternity for several years that these DL Locomotives are not up to scratch, yet Kiwi Rail has somehow managed to deceive both the politicians and taxpayers, the funders of Kiwi Rail, to this fact.! I have said before that Kiwi Rail has the best spin doctors in N.Z and here is a perfect case in point.
These locomotives should have NEVER been bought.!! China is NOT a builder of reliable heavy-duty Diesel locomotives. In fact, the most powerful diesel locomotives in China were built in the U.S.A.
There are approx. 300 6000hp Locomotives of EMD ancestry and on the highest elevation railway line in the world, from China to Tibet, the Locomotives used were built by that well-known American Locomotive building company, General Electric. GE (recently re branded Wabtec) being number one in the world in heavy-duty locomotive construction.
The most successful Diesel locomotives used in N.Z have also been built by these two American Locomotive Builders.
Todd Moyles attempt try and justify the purchase of these Locomotives is laughable, when KiwiRail has cut up approx. 40 DC locomotives in the last year or so. Whilst a lot of these locomotives required substantial work to continue in use, there were plenty that didn’t. In fact, KiwiRail have sold 2 to an Australian company, which has an option for up to 4 more, so you can see there is still life in these old girls yet.!
Has Kiwi Rail forgotten that whilst North Island tonnage may have increased by 1.4 million tonnes between 2015 and 2019, it has nosed dived since the start of Covid-19. It has been reported to me that tonnage in the North Island has dropped by between 10 and 20 percent and a similar amount in the South. Also, since April 9, not one Electric hauled train has run between Hamilton and Palmerston North. Why.??
If Kiwi Rail are that short of locomotives, surely using the Electric’s on the central portion of the Main Trunk would free up Diesels for use elsewhere. YES, it’s that simple. I should know, I was part of the team rostering the New Zealand Locomotive Fleet for 3 years, earlier in my rail career.!
If more intensive use of the Electric’s is not enough, there are at least 14 recently preserved former N.Z rail operated Diesel Locomotives in various parts of the North Island which, provided they are in a suitable mechanical condition, could slot straight back into use for Kiwi Rail. I’m sure at least some of the owners of these locomotives would be only too pleased to lease them out and earn some much-needed revenue to defray their original costs and expenses and help assist rail preservation in N.Z. This again is not rocket science and is something that occurs with monotonous regularity across the ditch in Australia.
And failing that, there are numerous Second hand diesel locomotives around the world, including as close as Australia, that are available NOW and could be used almost straight off the boat.!
As for Mr Moyles statement re the need to purchase bespoke Locomotives for New Zealand, this is not correct. Whilst the N.Z axle loading and Structures gauge are restrictive, there are several Locomotive Manufacturers around the world who offer Diesel Locomotives suitable for use in N.Z. There may be a need to tweak the car body or lighten the loco’s mass slightly but this is not a major issue.
Some Locomotives that operate on the same track gauge or the VERY similar metre gauge, that spring to mind are Motive Power USA’s MP27CN and MP33CN, both used in Australia, Progress Rail USA’s PR22L (used in Tasmania on track lighter than that in N.Z) and GT38ACe (in Indonesia) and GT42AC (on metre gauge in Chile).
Wabtec (formerly GE) has the CM20EMP (in Indonesia) and the C23EMP on metre gauge in Chile. The C23EMP being a modern version of Kiwi Rail’s DX (now DXB/DXC class) locomotive, built at the Wabtec facility in South America, which is located in Brazil.
This haste to lock in locomotives that will not be delivered for a minimum of 6 to 12 months is incomprehensible and shows that both Kiwi Rail Senior Management and the Board, which both back any REAL Railway expertise, are out of touch with reality.
You wouldn’t buy a new Toyota Corolla that failed to perform to your expectations yet Kiwi Rail are proposing to buy a Locomotive that is a PROVEN and CONTINUAL under performer.!!
This is a COMPLETE waste of the New Zealand taxpayer’s money and does nothing to engender the public’s faith in those in charge of the New Zealand rail system.!!
To quote a former N.Z Government Railways General Manager, Mr Trevor Hayward, “It’s time for Change”.
I welcome any feedback and feel free to distribute as you see fit.
Stuart Dow, Railwayman (in my 40th year of service)
Thanks for that Cleangreen.
This man certainly seems to know his onions. There are some interesting methods used by the Chinese to get orders and build relationships. They invite people like City Mayors over there and it seems that such visitors are overwhelmed by the virtue of the offerings.
I wonder why we can’t go for good value and immediate start? It seems that the spending habits of these private sector/public works men and women cannot adjust to the new post covid-19 reality. Why? Because they never had to face reality anyway, everything they say must be right as mistakes would show up the falsehood that they all live under.
Rich white lives matter
The NZ government is relaxing rules to allow our citizens to return home and is also considering letting in essential workers. Also being allowed through the borders are elites who list sailing as a hobby. Team NZ and other syndicates with ‘family’ members in tow will be allowed to fly first class from their flash residences overseas into Auckland/Queenstown/luxury lodges and spend a few months experiencing the very best of what New Zealand has to offer. Not only have these boatpeople been the gold standard for corporate welfare for years it seems they can also lobby our government to influence our laws, in this most terrible time of disease. And for what? So a few million dollars can float through Auckland restaurants and bottle stores? So a few hundred of our upper class in polos and boat shoes can cheer on a few hundred other upper class in cashmere and goretex to go fast on water? So our team of 5 million can unite and rejoice in this grotesquery, knowing that the financial and marketing returns are obvious because the government told us so, and knowing that the teams are skilled craftsmen at the peak of their powers because they and the media told us so. And if the average New Zealander just tried harder, they to could appreciate just how incredible this race is to humanity, and one day, just maybe, they to could join Team NZX and be part of this boat race.
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