New Zealand Conservative

Homepaddock reports on a dinosaur find in Auckland. I don't recall seeing a satire tag, so it could be true: Paleontologists flock to study dinosaurs.

Ports of Auckland has lost Fonterra to Tauranga and Napier - representing 27M of trade a week (which is not the same as the Port fees received for moving that stock). Nevertheless, that's still a substantial volume of business that has just sailed out of the harbour. I'm not sure that Tauranga wasn't simultaneously aiming to win Fonterra over, but Ports of Auckland blame the current strike, and it surely must have had some impact on such decisions? Reading the news article, the Port looks to be the good guys in this, with what seems to be the 9th offer on the table in the last 5 months and still suffering ongoing strike action in the face of economically dangerous times. What exactly are the union after? Shares in the business so they can pay their workers bonuses based on the actual financial performance of the port? Probably not. If they are not careful, they'll be looking for new jobs. I hear Tauranga has a good life style, what with views of the re...

The Unions NSW Secretary, Mark Lennon has called for Australia Day holiday to last an entire week . Oh, sure there would be some collective bargaining and the odd strike to sort out the details, and presumably pubs would remain open with free beer, whilst bar staff were paid triple time - but they are just minor details. The point is that Unions are there to do more than worry about what goes on at work. They need to worry about what goes on outside of work. Not to mention that Melbourne Cup Day may eclipse Australia Day celebrations, so it's important to be pushing the envelope and ensuring the hierarchy of holidays is correctly maintained. With a bit of forward planning, Australia may also be able to mark out the month of Ramadan as the official cure to a week of feasting, partying and drinking. From New Zealand's point of view, it's a nice bit of one-upmanship. Whilst we debate the merits of getting ANZAC and Waitangi day off on the Monday, if it falls on a S...

The Mana by-election is on us next week, and although a labour stronghold, there is the remote possibility that the seat falls to National. Admittedly, unlikely, but the statement makes a great lead in to discussing Matt McCarten and is probably the most interesting part of my post. Well, the dumb-ass coconut comment coming up later might be better, but if you read past this point, don't blame me for a boring post about a boring by-election. So Matt McCarten, staunch Unionist, is running as an independent, presumably realizing that he wont win, but may erode Labour's vote. They really have fallen low, if the Unions are fighting them. Or is it the Unions are enjoying their raised profile after beating up on the little people (I'm referring to the recent Union activism on the behalf of the bit part actors who will play hobbits, who mostly said "stop helping me") Matt is running a campaign along the lines of rugby union match, with what I call "The Firs...

One contract to bind them all? The last time that was tried, things went terribly wrong. Hobbitses was hurtses. And it seems it might happen again, with the Hobbits being moved off to the land of mordor, somewhere near Hungary I think. I'm actually not sure what all the fuss is about, but I'll give it a go: An Australian union for Actors want to establish a minimum set of hiring standards and wages for NZ actors for the Hobbit production. Due to the current employment laws in NZ, apparently, this cannot be used as a binding contract, so it might be pointless. But the Union is fine with that, because it feels it necessary to establish a non-binding baseline. Except there is already some pink coloured book that does this. Nevertheless, the union just wants to have nice friendly informal talks with PJ to draw up a contract template. Until those nice friendly talks eventuate, they have encouraged the hobbits, treants, rangers and wights to go on strike. And apparently Gan...

Minto, McCarten and the Bradford spoke from under the armpit of a giant rat at their protest on Sunday. That's a great look for the Unionists.  I think the rat fits in well and is probably a valued team member. I hope it gets above minimum wage, and a good health plan. According to the Unite Union, the giant rat is the national rallying symbol against greedy employers in New Zealand, and first featured in protests against SkyTower back in 2008, where it twitched its whiskers against the big cheese of SkyCity, CEO Nigel Morrision. "Nigel - don't be a rat and treat his your staff decently," was the message from Unite back then. It was back again on the week-end to put a plague on the house of National. There's no particular point to this post, I just liked the rat.

http://nzconservative.blogspot.com/2010/07/of-mice-and-men-and-dirty-rats.htmlSue Bradford and assorted left wing peasants stormed the Sky Tower today, site of the National Party Conference. I say peasants, because they themselves claim to be revolting. Said Union Leader Matt McCarten: Government's changes were about restoring power to employers and they amounted to a return to the Feudal System. Speaking under a giant rat ( no seriously, he was ) They want to make us slaves in our own country and they know where they can stick that," Mr McCarten said. And as they tried to break into private property and disrupt proceedings in a most uncivil and undemocratic way, unionist Maxine Gay declared: the issue was about "who owns the workplace". Seems they feel they need to right to walk in unannounced into a place of business, rather than phoning beforehand to arrange a suitable time, which is all that particular law change is about.   Access cannot be unreaso...

The good old days of the "class struggle" have come and gone but some relics still hang in there and occasionally find a way of making themselves felt. So it is in Invercargill where the Fire Engines are currently left outside because of "dangerous fumes" in the firehouse garage . I would have thought the risks from fumes while parking a fire truck after a call out would be at the lower end of the spectrum of the hazards a firefighter faces in his daily employment but there you go the union deems otherwise. I have a simple and elegant solution to this impasse though - firefighters are equipped with breathing apparatus for those occasions when they encounter toxic fumes in the course of their regular duties. So why don't they just don this gear when they park their trucks in the garage? Problem solved.