Comments on: Recession and Redundancy http://workersparty.org.nz/2009/10/11/recession-and-redundancy/ Pro-Worker/Anti-Capitalist Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:42:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: John Edmundson http://workersparty.org.nz/2009/10/11/recession-and-redundancy/#comment-2889 Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:10:37 +0000 http://workersparty.org.nz/?p=2461#comment-2889 Darien Fenton said she wouldn’t “spend a lot of time” apologising for Labour’s failures on workers’ rights, but in fact most of what she wrote above was exactly that. As she notes, it was only when Labour faced a crushing defeat at the polls that redundancy suddenly became a manifesto issue. The ongoing attacks on tertiary education, with accompanying redundancies, are a Labour legacy. I hope her Bill is passed (although I’m not holding my breath) because any protection is better than none at all. But it was a Labour government that unleashed the attacks on workers back in the 1980s and the three term Clark government did little to rectify any of the damage. Now that Labour are in opposition, they have suddenly discovered that workers are under attack in this country, as if that is a phenomenon that has only occurred in the last 11 months. Few workers have much faith in the Labour Party any more and I think that’s a good thing.

]]> By: Darien Fenton http://workersparty.org.nz/2009/10/11/recession-and-redundancy/#comment-2884 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:33:42 +0000 http://workersparty.org.nz/?p=2461#comment-2884 John, thanks for drawing attention to my Redundancy Protection Bill. I could spend a lot of time going over why Labour didn’t bring in redundancy protection earlier. I could remind you that it was a manifesto promise in the 2008 election, but not so in earlier manifestos. I could say that was because it wasn’t a policy put forward by Labour members and affiliated unions, who had other priorities, such as protecting vulnerable workers in situations of contracting out of sale of business, which Labour dealt with in the ERA amendments 2004. But I won’t, because right now, I am focussed on getting support for my bill, because it won’t make it without a ground swell of support to persuade National that it should be sent to select committee at first reading. So, if, in your opinion, Labour failed, let’s not make it a failure of the Labour movement, because we can’t get over our differences. Surely it’s time we worked together on the issues we do agree on? If the Workers Party supports minimum redundancy rights, then please get behind the campaign on http://www.hardtimes.org.nz

I don’t care who gets the credit, or the blame. I only care that workers in New Zealand are currently being made redundant, through no fault of their own, without any protection to tide them over during the hard times.

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