Vol. 74/No. 44      November 22, 2010

The National Party-led government's proposed legislation would give increased powers to employers. These include the right to fire a worker any time during the first 90 days of employment without reason, the right to demand that a worker provide a doctor's certificate for just a single day off sick, and the right to deny access to workplaces by union representatives.

Another measure would allow bosses to change the dates of public holidays and to substitute cash for vacations.

In another attack on labor here, the government rushed legislation through parliament October 28 declaring all workers engaged in film production to be private contractors. This denies them rights as employees under employment laws and removes the right to negotiate collective contracts.

The measure was passed amidst a wave of antiunion hysteria whipped up by movie industry employers, politicians, and media commentators, threatening that Warner Brothers would move production of its upcoming movie The Hobbit from New Zealand unless curbs on the unions were guaranteed.

Movie executives and government ministers met for several days negotiating the deal, which also includes almost NZ$100 million in tax concessions and donations to the film company.

—Mike Tucker

Dallas: DISH Network workers
fight for union contract
Members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) rallied November 4 at two DISH Network locations near Dallas to back workers fighting for a union contract.

Last February workers at the Farmers Branch and North Richland Hills worksites voted to be represented by the CWA. The election at Farmers Branch was certified by the National Labor Relations Board in May, but the company has been stalling on signing a contract there.

Workers at North Richland Hills are still waiting for their vote to be officially certified.

Since the vote DISH has been “cutting workers’ hours while shifting work to contractors and refusing to fill jobs when workers have been fired or quit,” according to the CWA website.

—Brian Williams
 
 
Related articles:
Airline workers campaign for unionization at Delta
Attempt to organize fast food chain ‘captured imagination’
Workers fight for union at Jimmy John's
Iowa workers seek solidarity against lockout
France: Actions oppose retirement age hike  
 
 
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