Tuesday 12 December 2006

Labour-lite: Getting where?

Do you remember the furore kicked up by National in the Clark Government's first term over the introduction of Hard Labour's Employment Relations Act?
National will repeal the Employment Relations Act and replace it with legislation that does not get in the way of small business and more jobs.
So said National's Industrial Relations spokesperson Max Backward at the time.
The Bill remains a radical and backward looking departure from the status quo [continued Backward]. It goes against international trends in Europe, the Americas and Australia, where most countries are freeing up their labour markets... "We've marked the changes to the Bill out of 100 and the Government's only scored 20 out of 100. That's 20% and an "F" for failure... "The Government has set up the country's biggest monopoly with this Bill. Unions will have greater monopoly powers than Telecom or the electricity companies.
That was then. Now, the new National Socialists just don't give a shit. They just don't care at all. New leader John Boy Key now says, "no change needed to industrial legislation."
The new leader of the National Party thinks New Zealand's industrial legislation is reasonable and will not need to be changed too much by a future National government.
"Reasonable. "Not changed too much." "Please kick me."

"We certainly believe in flexible labour markets," says Softcock Key, it's just that the Softcock has no plans to do anything about them. Just a few months ago even Wayne Mapp was promoting more flexible employment legislation. Not now. Not allowed to. Too much like standing on principle. Lindsay Mitchell observed last week:
The people who would persuade us to hitch our star to Mr Key's wagon are either hearing things or reading between lines. I've been paying attention and there is no 'getting' to where John Key wants to be. We are already there. Anti-nuclear, soft on welfare, and paternalistic toward Maori."
She's wrong. One week later and we're still "getting there." The National Socialists are now soft on union monopolies and inflexible labour legislation as well.

And National Party principles are, once again, exactly as rare as rocking horse shit.

[Pic from Blair. Captions welcome.]

LINKS: Employment Relations Act to be repealed "Govt. gets an "F" for ERB" - Press Release, National Party, August 2000
Key says no change needed to industrial legislation - National Business Review
National sticking with employment relations policy - Stuff
Sycophantic babble - Lindsay Mitchell

RELATED: Politics-NZ, Politics-National, Hollow Men

3 comments:

Peter Cresswell said...

CAPTION: "Dream Team" look for rocking horse shit. None found.

CAPTION: Even Bill's rocking horse is going downhill.

CAPTION: Even the kid knows enough not to smile.

Anonymous said...

CAPTION:
Nats back new OSH 'Maximum of Three to a Rocking Horse' playground regulation.

CAPTION:
National's Education Policy: 'No Child Left Behind'.

Anonymous said...

BYE BYE BLUE .. HELLO YELLOW!

NZPA: The National party has officially announced its logo conversion from blue to yellow, effective immediately.

Said Beaming Bill English-Isn't-Important-Anymore: "It's a matter of being pragmatic. We no longer represent traditional conservative values; that's elitist and upsets the soft greens and tangata whenua we're so desperately trying to woo. Conversely, we like to consider ourselves as an umbrella group equally concerned with everybody's wellbeing. We're tolerant, inclusive and multicultural. We stand for everything and nothing. Yellow suits us to a T for tax!"