Category: Business

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Final 2024 EIT public lecture explores business and climate change | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

2 minutes ago

Associate Professor Pii-Tuulia Nikula presented the final public lecture in a series organised by EIT’s Research and Innovation Centre (RIC).

EIT’s final public lecture of the year concluded with a thought-provoking session by Associate Professor Pii-Tuulia Nikula who shared her journey exploring the intricate relationship between climate change and business.

The lecture, titled Turning Up the Heat: Businesses and Climate Change, was the final in the series: ‘Reconnecting Through Research’, at MTG Hawke’s Bay recently, organised by EIT’s Research and Innovation Centre (RIC).

Central to her presentation was the critical question: Are businesses exacerbating the climate crisis, or are they helping to solve it by taking ambitious action?

This question set the stage for a discussion on the dual role businesses play in either contributing to or mitigating climate change.

She examined both the global and local trends shaping this issue, highlighting how some industries and organisations are stepping up to address environmental concerns, while others are still lagging behind.

A key focus of the lecture was the analysis of climate disclosures, science-based decarbonisation targets, and the barriers businesses face in taking action.

Pii-Tuulia discussed the rising importance of climate-related financial disclosures and the need for businesses to adopt measurable climate targets. The lecture also addressed the challenges businesses face, including the financial risks of climate change and the complexity of integrating sustainability into their existing business models.

“Climate change is not just an environmental issue, it’s a business issue,” she said. “To ensure long-term sustainability, companies need to rethink their business models to make sure that they are future-proofed”.

She explored the difference between symbolic and substantive engagement. While some businesses make claims about their commitment to sustainability, Pii-Tuulia pointed out that these symbolic commitments need to be followed by tangible actions that reduce organisational carbon footprints.

She discussed the critical role of businesses in shaping broader climate action, not just within their own operations, but also in their supply chains and external collaborations.

She also stressed that business leaders and policymakers must collaborate closely to create effective solutions and policies that drive real, systemic change.

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HYEFU and BPS data shows New Zealand is way off track

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney.

“Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and deeper cuts programmed in the future. Our economic indicators are all heading in the wrong direction, with lower economic growth and higher unemployment. The Government’s policies are hurting working people, and they’re not working for Aotearoa,” said Renney.

 “The data showed that the economy is growing more slowly than forecast just six months ago. Next year GDP growth was forecast to 1.7% at Budget, now its 0.5%.  GDP is $20bn lower by 2028. Unemployment is higher in every year of the forecast – with 20,000 more people on jobseekers support by 2026. OBEGAL absent the new tricks of accounting – never comes back into surplus across the forecast period. Net Core Crown Debt increases across the forecast period by $58bn.  

“The Budget Policy Statement signals that we are in for more cuts in the next few budgets. There is only $700m available at the next Budget to pay for everything outside health. That bakes in likely cuts to public investment and to the public sector workforce every year for the next few years. All to pay for the tax cuts that have now passed. The folly of that decision is now being uncovered.

 “These books paint a picture of a government without a plan. The only solution the Minister of Finance is planning is to double down on an already failing strategy. These are the Government’s books; responsibility shouldn’t be passed on. Working people and communities across Aotearoa will suffer if we don’t change track,” said Renney.

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NZCTU put Brooke van Velden on notice over WorkSafe cuts

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have sent an open letter to Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, following another round of devastating job cuts at WorkSafe.

“Aotearoa New Zealand’s record on workplace health and safety is costing the lives of so many workers, and instead of working to turn that record around, we have a Minister who is making decisions that will cost even more lives,” said NZCTU Acting President Rachel Mackintosh.

“WorkSafe already lost 15% of its staff in the last 12 months – 113 roles. Now the organisation will lose another 54 roles, which will critically undermine its core functions as our workplace health and safety regulator.

“Alongside these job cuts, WorkSafe have announced they are disestablishing the health team, which will undoubtedly lead to an increase in health-related harm and deaths in workplaces across the country.

“Dozens of New Zealand workers die each year as a result of workplace injuries. In addition, estimates suggest that 750-900 workers die each year from work-related occupational diseases such as asbestosis and cancers.

“This hollowing out of our health and safety regulator is deliberate. WorkSafe is being set up to fail. The Minister and her Government have an aversion to regulation, yet good regulation is essential to good health and safety and saving workers lives.

“Workers will need to issue the Minister with an improvement notice if she doesn’t start taking health and safety seriously and use her role to bring down our abysmal injury and death rates.

“This Minister is overseeing an all-out assault on working people – while gutting WorkSafe, she is leaving workers in the ditch on Holidays Act reform, undermining personal grievance claims, and threatening to weaken health and safety law. This is on top of scrapping fair pay agreements, bringing back 90-day fire at will agreements and redrafting employment law on behalf of the multinational corporation, Uber.

“Working people are sick and tired of this Minister and her extreme anti-worker agenda. It’s well past time she learnt the requirements of her role and put the health and wellbeing of workers above the interests of big business.

“We are putting Brooke van Velden on notice and saying enough is enough,” said Mackintosh.

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Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation.

“With inflation forecast at 2% by the Reserve Bank, the new minimum wage rate is an effective cut in real terms and will leave workers worse off. This is the second year in a row where this Government has made the decision to cut the Minimum wage in real terms,” said NZCTU Acting President Rachel Mackintosh.

“National promised to support New Zealanders through the cost-of-living crisis, and yet this decision will mean that the lowest income workers fall even further behind. Minimum wage Workers are now $1,206 a year worse off as a consequence of these real term wage cuts”.

“Government has a responsibility to ensure that all workers have enough to afford rent, pay the bills, put good food on the table, and buy their kids what they need. How are workers meant to keep up with rising food and rent costs when the Government is cutting their wages in real terms?

“At a time when inflation is coming down, this was an opportunity for the Government to give workers a break and ensure they get real terms pay increases.

“All New Zealand workers have the right to a liveable income to support their families – they deserve to be paid a Living Wage,” said Mackintosh.

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NZCTU open letter to Treasury on undue restrictions on restricted briefings

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Iain Rennie, CNZM
Secretary and Chief Executive to the Treasury

Dear Secretary,

Undue restrictions on restricted briefings

This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been formally invited, by the Treasury, to attend the briefing. After the CTU replied to the invitation, Treasury appears to have changed its rules for attendance. Our application to attend was then rejected.

The Treasury now states that “Representatives from peak bodies, professional bodies, unions, universities, industry bodies, industry information services, and advocacy groups, among others, would no longer be allowed to attend”. That means bodies such as Business New Zealand would not be able to attend, nor would organisations such as Local Government New Zealand, Child Poverty Action Group, Aotearoa 350, or Tax Justice Aotearoa. Alongside the CTU these are all national organisations with a strong and legitimate interest in understanding how the government is investing its resources.  

Treasury said the purpose of restricted briefings is to provide participants with time to consider materials before public release to enable more accurate reporting and to assist “in transparency and accountability to the public”. The Treasury has therefore concluded that other groups, such as the CTU, no longer have a time-sensitive need for the materials. This despite the fact that attendance by bodies such as these has been the norm for many years without incident.

We must object to this interpretation in the strongest terms. Groups – including the CTU – affected by the new guidelines regularly provide their analysis of Budget figures to their own readers, who number in the hundreds of thousands, and provide expert analysis to journalists attending the restricted briefings. Both functions assist in transparency and accountability to the public, which is the purpose of restricted briefings.

How does it promote the interests of “transparency and accountability to the public” or assist public understanding when external organisations such as Bloomberg will be able to tell foreign investors what’s in the Government books, and provide considered analysis, faster than organisations representing New Zealand workers, business, and taxpayers?

The CTU alone represents 27 Trade Unions with more than 300,000 members. They have a keen interest in understanding the financial situation of the Government – many of whose employment and income rely on the Crown Accounts. Timely analysis and communications from the CTU are essential. Could you please explain why their need for information is less important than that of financial markets?  

The lock-up is also an opportunity to engage with the Minister of Finance and the Secretary of the Treasury. To ask questions about the contents of the report, and to have answers to questions heard by media. There is no other opportunity to do that outside of this lock-up. Why should banks be able to ask the Minister questions about economic growth, but other groups find themselves shut out?

Lock-ups do not just bring analysts into a room with access to advance copy of the fiscal documents. Attendees at restricted briefings can also ask Treasury officials how complex estimates were generated. Being able to ask officials about the estimates helps analysts provide better-informed reports with fewer errors. It also means that analysts who misrepresent the figures have little excuse for their own errors.

We sympathise with Treasury’s predicament. When more people wish to attend restricted briefings than can be accommodated, it has to choose who to disappoint. But there has never been a HYEFU briefing where the room was full, and where those who attended couldn’t be seated. This is not a capacity issue.

Democracy and public scrutiny are not supported by locking social partners and non-financial institutions out of the lock-up. This is a retrograde step, which appears to have nothing to do with capacity, security, or with a desire to ensure that complex documents such as the HYEFU are communicated well to audiences across New Zealand.

The CTU strongly urges the Treasury to reconsider these guidelines and your decision to rescind our access. We look forward to a timely response to this letter.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Mackintosh

Acting NZCTU President

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New Zealand wharfies join international day of action against Qube Ports

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

New Zealand maritime workers will be rallying in support of Australian workers at Qube Ports on Monday 16 December 2024.

Australian wharfies at Qube are stopping work at ten ports in an International Day of Action to expose Qube Ports’ refusal to take safety, fatigue and work-life balance concerns seriously during bargaining for a new employment agreement covering more than 1000 workers.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says New Zealand wharfies will be supporting the Maritime Union of Australia in their struggle, with delegates heading across the Tasman in both directions, an international video link, and protest events to be held in two New Zealand ports.

TAURANGA informational picket Monday 16 December (1pm–3pm)
Hull Road, Mt. Maunganui (Port gates)

GISBORNE informational picket Monday 16 December (Morning)
Corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Hirini Street

Maritime Union of Australia delegates and MUNZ officials will be attending these pickets and available to talk to media.

Mr Findlay says Qube management need to be aware their actions in Australia will have consequences for their brand and credibility internationally unless they change their attitude towards their workforce.

He says the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) will be “acting as one.”

Qube Ports in Australia is an ASX listed behemoth which has extracted mega-profits in recent years from the productivity delivered by their hard working employees, and has doggedly refused to sit down and negotiate a new agreement with their workforce. 

The MUA says Qube has repeatedly dismissed safety and fatigue concerns and declared it unprofitable to operate a business which takes safety seriously. 

While wharfies’ pay has gone backwards against inflation, executive bonuses and shareholder dividends have soared. Over the last four years, Qube profits have jumped by 148%.

The MUA has repeatedly called on the company to return to the bargaining table and engage meaningfully with the safety, fatigue and work-life balance concerns that Qube employees are raising.

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Reappointment of Tony Gibson to maritime industry board role a travesty

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union says the reappointment of disgraced former Ports of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson to a director position at Marsden Maritime Holdings (MMH) is a travesty and an insult to the memory of workers killed and injured on the job.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says workers are in disbelief at the absolute lack of judgement shown by MMH.

Mr Gibson was found guilty in November 2024 of a health and safety charge stemming from his former role as CEO of Port of Auckland Limited.

Maritime NZ laid charges against Mr Gibson under the Health and Safety at Work Act after the death of a stevedore, Pala’amo Kalati, in 2020.

Marsden Maritime Holdings is a New Zealand Exchange-listed (NZX) company, which has a 50% stake in Northport, a marina, and significant industrial land holdings.

Mr Findlay says the news shocked workers who lived through the Gibson years at Port of Auckland, which saw deaths and serious injuries, sustained attacks on the workforce, and a failed automation project that cost Aucklanders hundreds of millions of dollars before Mr Gibson’s resignation.

Mr Findlay says there is a culture of impunity for directors and senior managers.

“What more does it take for a public company to say time to go?”

Mr Findlay says it’s a case of “jobs for the boys” and a glaring example of the double standard applied, as workers would be sacked for far less serious offences and find it hard to get back into work.

“The corporate elite need to get the message that the working-class majority are getting sick and tired of seeing this entitled self-serving attitude.”

He says the Maritime Union congratulates Port of Auckland, a minority shareholder in MMH, for its principled decision voting against Mr Gibson’s reappointment.

Mr Findlay says the stance of the New Zealand Shareholders Association who directed proxy votes against the reappointment was also a responsible course of action.

He says MMH CEO Rosie Mercer should retract her praise of Mr Gibson.

“Let’s be absolutely clear – there are families who will be missing someone this Christmas because of avoidable workplace deaths. Marsden Maritime Holdings should be ashamed at this insult to the memories of workers who lost their lives.”

He says the Maritime Union would be following the issue up with Northland Regional Council and would be seeking the removal of Mr Gibson from the MMH Board.

The Maritime Union would continue to campaign for corporate manslaughter laws.

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Six years of work wasted – Holidays Act reform now years away

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Brooke van Velden has wasted six years of work from businesses, unions, and government by binning planned Holidays Act reforms, said Acting CTU President Rachel Mackintosh in response to today’s announcement from Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety.

 “The Minister has cynically kicked the can on Holiday Act reform even further down the road, meaning an even longer delay for workers trying to get their basic rights to leave recognised,” said Mackintosh.

“The Government is again making decisions that are bad for workers by departing from an agreement that ensured any changes wouldn’t be damaging to working people.

 “When this review commenced, businesses and unions agreed that Holidays Act reforms would not result in leaving workers worse off. The change in direction announced today throws that agreement up in the air.

“Workers and businesses have asked for clarity around their Holidays Act requirements. Rather than getting on with the job, all the Minister has done today is ensure greater uncertainty for even longer.

“Her proposed new model could also mean that every worker would need to record their hours worked, which would add complexity to the system. The Minister needs to listen to workers and business as social partners and implement what was already agreed.

“In her speech today, the Minister mentioned she was listening to employers and “experts” but failed to mention workers. This is more evidence that she is making decisions for only the employer side of the employment relationship, not the millions of workers in this country.

 “After six years of work and tripartite agreement on the future of the Holidays Act, today the Minister has taken us back to the start. In doing so, she also appears to have taken protections for workers off the table.

“This is yet another example of this Government deliberately making life harder for working people,” said Mackintosh.

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Government ferry announcement fails to launch

Source: Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Union representing Cook Strait ferry workers has expressed amazement at the Government’s announcement today on the Cook Strait ferries.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says the Government has just kicked the can down the road on hard decisions once again.

“The only real announcement today was Nicola Willis announcing she will soon be sacked from the Finance portfolio.”

The appointment of Winston Peters as Minister for Rail and the setting up of a Schedule 4 entity to procure ferries were widely expected, he says.

He says no costs were provided by the Finance Minister and the Government was using commercial confidentiality as a fig leaf to conceal how its decisions had led New Zealand into a very expensive dead end.

Mr Findlay says the Finance Minister’s claims that her ferry deal would be cheaper than the iRex project had no credibility.

“How can she make such bold assurances when she hasn’t got a deal or even a confirmed plan?”

He says the only clear information available was that the ferries would be smaller and less capable, with no information about port side infrastructure.

The suggestion of private operators being involved created more confusion, he says.

“What New Zealand wanted today was certainty and a path forward, and what we got was an admission of failure from the Minister of Finance.”

Mr Findlay says the appointment of Winston Peters as Minister of Rail was an interesting situation, as Mr Peters understood the New Zealand rail network requires rail enabled ferries, unlike the Minister of Finance.

He says there is still an opportunity for New Zealanders to insist the Government procure fit for purpose rail enabled ferries.

“In the meantime, the future of this essential infrastructure hangs in the balance.”

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NZCTU slams Government’s ferry fiasco

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is slamming the Government for failing to show any leadership on infrastructure delivery after they revealed today, they have no plan to replace the Cook Strait ferries a year on from their decision to cancel the iReX project.

“Today’s announcement by the Minister of Finance showed why New Zealanders shouldn’t trust this Government on infrastructure – despite wasting huge amounts of money and time, they still have no coherent plan to replace the Cook Strait ferries,” said Acting NZCTU President Rachel Mackintosh.

“It has been a year since the Government cancelled the existing contract and we know little more now than we did then. We have no information on where replacement ferries are coming from, how much they will cost, who will pay for them, or how the port infrastructure will be delivered. We don’t know how much it will cost to cancel the existing order.

“New Zealand had contracts for ships that had been set to arrive in February 2026 and September 2026. We are now planning on having ships possibly arrive sometime in 2029.

“The ferries are reaching the end of their service life, and all we have been given another working group. The original project should never have been cancelled.

“Crucially, it now appears as if the decision has been made to take rail-enabled ships off the table. The Government is now talking about being “rail compatible”. This will mean using lorries to put freight on and off ferries. This will take longer, is less efficient, will raise costs for users, and will likely increase emissions.

“The Government announcement also appears keen to privatise the service, stating that they are open to proposals from the private sector. This would likely mean that a private entity will take profit out of a service currently being run by government.

“Workers on the Cook Strait ferries, service users, and New Zealanders all deserve better than this. This is a plan to have a plan at some point in the future. What is needed is action,” said Mackintosh.