I’m really proud that yesterday, on World Refugee Day, the Greens launched an ambitious plan to increase the refugee quota to 5000 over the next six years. Of those places, 4,000 will be directly resettled by the government and another 1,000 will be community sponsored placements – replicating a very successful programme that has been […]
I’m getting pretty sick of the politics of division in this country. The latest example was yesterday’s comments from NZ First leader Winston Peters having a good go in the House at driving up fear and loathing towards people of the Islamic faith. In the wake of the terrorist attacks in London the NZ First […]
Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett’s comments about tipping have been in the news and have sparked off a series of furious discussions about tipping in Aotearoa. From our point of view, tipping every time you’re provided a service is a bizarre American custom that we don’t want to bring here. Although Minister Bennett has said […]
May 1st is International Workers Day. Across the globe, workers and unions will be celebrating the gains they have made to ensure they have decent pay and safer work conditions. In New Zealand, it is also the day after Newshub released leaked footage from inside the Pike River mine that was filmed three months after the explosions in November […]
You can tell its election year. Yesterday the government announced yet another series of changes to Immigration policy. As per usual the announcement from the Minister frames immigration around the impact on the economy and the job market. Minister Woodhouse basically dehumanises those who want to work and make a life here in Aotearoa New […]
Yesterday’s announcement that carers in the aged care and community support sectors will finally have their pay lifted in line with pay equity principles is a breakthrough for women’s human rights. Kristine Bartlett, the carer with decades of experience who took the case, is to be congratulated – as are the unions E Tū, the […]
What does it say about our country that we would invite people to work here but treat them as second class citizens? Just yesterday, I wrote that there should be better oversight of the living and working conditions of Pacific Islanders who are working here under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme. There are numerous recent […]
I was really pleased to see the investigation by TVNZ’s Q+A looking into the issue of seasonal migrant workers in the wine industry in Marlborough over the weekend. I’ve felt uneasy about the Recognised Seasonal Employment (RSE) scheme since its inception about 10 years now because I worried about the vulnerability of the people coming […]
Bill English’s announcement that National will increase the age of eligibility for superannuation will not only hurt Generation X unfairly, it will also hit manual workers, Māori, and migrants hard. For many people, a lifetime of hard physical labour means retirement at age of 65 is a physical necessity. And for Māori, who are frequently […]
Living Wage campaigners have calculated that it now takes a wage of at least $20.20 an hour to support a decent quality of life in New Zealand. The minimum wage is just $15.25, rising to $15.75 on April 1. For most people, that’s not enough to live on. It’s a common misconception that the only […]