I wanted to address an issue that I think is important in terms of the ongoing campaign around human rights for the people of Palestine, justice for the people of Palestine, and that is what is our attitude to the Jewish people in that state of Israel.
The fact that half the prison population in New Zealand is Maori is simply a national scandal that must be ended.
The government has announced goals to halve child poverty in three critical measures over the next decade. These are realistic and achievable targets that will be welcomed. However, it is wrong for the government to delay the introduction of their boost to working for families for a further five months until July.
While these changes will make the unions job a little bit easier it will not significantly enhance workers power.
The government has opened or will be opening, some doors that will enable unions and other progressive movements to push for far more than is currently being offered.
2018 will see Unite Union campaigning to rewrite all new collective agreements to ensure that all workers benefit from the planned increase in the minimum wage to $20 an hour by April 1, 2021.
It is with great concern that the manipulation of rosters to deny staff alternative holidays at Restaurant Brands has been confirmed to be so widespread that it must have been company policy at a senior level.
The exposure of the theft of alternative holidays – otherwise known as lieu days – by the Wendy’s corporation has opened up a pandora’s box of holiday theft allegations across this and other industries.
Last week Statistics NZ released the National Accounts for the year to March 2017, which revealed that working people are receiving only 48.7% of the national pie compared to a peak of 58.7% in 1981.
The right of workers to an alternative holiday when working on a public holiday has been strongly affirmed in an Employment Relations Authority decision against Wendco (NZ) Limited, the company that operates the Wendy’s stores in New Zealand.