Herald on Sunday
Interesting to see Matt McCarten's politically charged piece about call centres and unions today in the dreadful Herald delivered on Sunday - it was quite interesting, I thought - especially remembering the saga that is going on at the moment with APN and their collective agreeement. (I've posted about it previously)
Very refreshing I must say, after trawling through the HoS - nice to see something like that near the back, just when you need that pep to keep you reading (and especially something of a pick-me-up after reading Deborah Coddington - a truly intelligent and articulate woman but one with whom I often disagree, especially when it comes to jobs and wages)
Very interesting to hear Matt's comments on the role of unions as needing to be 'organising unions' rather than 'servicing unions' - it's a piece of wisdom I've heard in Finsec many a time. I quite liked what he said about SkyCity and employees forming their own unions with the assistance of organised unions.
How about a union that deals primarily with call centres? One of the more deunionised industries in NZ, and one that is pretty bad in terms of conditions and effects on workers (average burn out for a full-timer = 2 years, average chage of job less than 2 years), especially in light of new research I've seen from Australia, looking at precarious employment in call centres in NZ. More on that later...
I'm expecting something of a spike in visitors as a result of the Finsec Flash, so if that's how you got here, leave a comment and let me know. Again, if anyone wants to contribute, the door is wiiide open.
posted by Matt at 12/12/2004 04:57:00 PM
4 Comments:
In my haste I forgot to mention the frightening progression of the HoS into our household: the only reason I moan about it so much is that I read it so often and because I don't spend money on it (anymore) I read it only because it has been apearing in our letterbox more often.
As Herald subscribers, we have been repeatedly offered 'complimentary' subscriptions for the HoS (all of which have been politely declined) and APN has taken to giving us complimentary copies anyway.
Free fodder, one might say. Clever or at least heavyhanded marketing perhaps?
There's no doubt that competition for SST is good for the consumer, but the fact remains that the current state of industrial relations at the Herald is in danger of becoming normalised and accepted, that is, that the HoS will operate as a deunionised entity separate from the Herald.
This has severe implications for the already weakened collective agreement in place at the Herald. From my understanding of the agreement, it is filled with so many grandfather clauses that it really defines itself by who is not covered under the agreement, as opposed to who is.
And that's a pretty bad start to any CEA.
have blogged on the McCarten column - it's not quite what it appears to be.
Interesting observations about the HOS btw :-)
The NZ Herald is arguably one of the last bastions of unionised workplaces in the print industry, and if the HoS is allowed to remain deunionised, it will rip the heart out of the NZ Herald worker's strength, being so closely linked to the Herald.
Kinda like poison...
and the bastards don't put much of the content online so you have to buy the damn thing to read any of it grrrr
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