Hoots doesn’t believe my suggestion that Labour strategists were smart enough to use the pay freeze to slip past the Fair Pay Agreement last week, but then again Hoots thought Todd Muller was a smart choice for National Party Leader so his Machiavellian radar might be off a tad.
The play was…
1 – Quietly tell the PSA no pay rises for 3 years.
2 – Greens and PSA go into meltdown screaming for gold plated $100k public service jobs
3 – Announce Universal Union Membership WHILE giving the CTU $250k to help implement it.
4 – Critics shut the fuck up because Labour have just pulled out the greatest workers rights upgrade since the 1908 blackball miners strike and the public won’t tolerate strikes from public servants being paid $100 000.
…Hoots was right about 3 things though.
1 – There is going to be a huge increase in welfare benefits.
2 – He is right that Jacinda and Grant’s driving force is low paid workers.
3 – The Wellington Public Service is all aflutter at getting hustled.
So aflutter a not so anonymous Union Official has donned a mask and sang the blues…
Opinion: Attempted pay freeze an act of intimidation by a Government terrified of strikes
…their claim is that the Pay Freeze was driven by the possibility of the Nurses striking, which the Nurses have decided to do…
Nurses to strike for eight hours after breakdown in pay negotiations
New Zealand nurses have voted to strike after a breakdown in pay negotiations.
The eight-hour strike will occur on June 9 from 11am to 7pm and will include nurses involved in the vaccination effort – but not those in managed isolation and quarantine.
…to be honest, Labour strategists had already taken into account that the Nurses were going to go on strike. The dynamics of social media that have made NZNO workers more militant than their union is accepted so the nurses striking was a factor in the Pay Freeze feint but not as the masked Unionist claims, the main reason.
Nurses going on strike was always likely and it is happening as the budget is announced which is great.
Here’s the play.
TOVA: Prime Minister the Nurses want more money and are striking.
PM: It’s a balancing act Tova, we have just increased Welfare dramatically because the Poverty report said we needed to do more and we are committed to ending child poverty. We are negotiating with nurses for better outcomes but I’m not going to negotiate that though the media.
PM gets to raise Welfare while playing it off against public service pay rises. Middle Voters are confused and don’t know who to be angry with but will agree we should do something about child poverty.
Grant will find some money down the couch, Nurses will get offered 3% with a review in 2023 before the election and those same furious Union Bosses will all be flooding their social media with photos from Jacinda’s wedding come the end of the year.
The magic 8 ball reference was funny.
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It might be a cunning plan but I think it’s dumb. Sure the wage gap is closed and Grant can celebrate giving the poor more and fuck the rich. Problem is why would our talented public servants hang about trying to pay their million dollar mortgage in Auckland when work places like our Hospitals are completely under resourced and all staff overworked and stressed. Would a late 3% turn the heat off, I doubt it. Why wouldn’t they look elsewhere. Or maybe they’re not that bright and we should give the lower paid workers their jobs. It’s clumsy bullshit and the Labour Government aren’t bright enough to have implemented this cunning plan.
That was a new view yesterday but an old view today……………………….
Mmmm Kat. A bit of stick to old views thoughts. So how do you see it. Apart from its good for the low paid. Any big picture opinion on how it would work in reality.
Are you saying that thousands will leave as they did under John Keys GFC 6 year wage freeze?
No the talented public servants know when they have a cohesive and strong Government that will negotiate, the alternative being old pale and stale.
So is a doctor who works long hours in the Hospital, and is paid just over 100k going to get paid more. I didn’t think so. Why wouldn’t that doctor leave and join a private practice or go to OZ. You can apply that reasoning to any public servants in any government department. I can’t see where the negotiations are Bert. Unless the government backs down completely Valuable people who are paid by us might look to go private or off shore. We can’t afford to loose any.
Hoots went to St Kents. Privilege and presbyterianism are not compatible. Scours a Scot.
I most certainly did not! What a shocking slur! I’m King’s Prep and Auckland Grammar.
Me thinks you overestimate labour’s intelligence. Also, nurses pay agreements being referred to as ‘outcome’ makes them sound like a charity case or marginalised sector of society. I would not blame these highly skilled superhuman creatures for being angry. But do they need the stress? Kiwis will suffer as nurses flee to greener pastures
Good on you Rose well said
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