>Comments: Authenticated sender is <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "vivian Hutchinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 09:41:22 +0000 >X-Distribution: Moderate >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Subject: The Jobs Letter No.67 (1st October 1997) >Reply-to: "The Jobs Letter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Priority: normal > >T H E J O B S L E T T E R 0 6 7 >------------------------------------- >a subscriber-based letter >published in New Zealand 1 October 1997 > >edited by Vivian Hutchinson for the Jobs Research Trust >P.O.Box 428, New Plymouth, New Zealand >phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648 >Internet address -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >I N T H I S I S S U E >----------------------------- >INTERNET HOT-LINKS >COMMUNITY TASKFORCE BROKERING >ETSA MAORI JOB FEES >CODE OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY >JOB FORECASTS >MORGAN AND BANKS JOB INDEX >WANGANUI COMPUTER >ROBERT THEOBALD > > >T H E J O B S L E T T E R >an essential information and media watch >on jobs, employment, unemployment, the future of work, >and related economic and education issues. > >Kia taea ai te tangata te whiwhi mahi >ahakoa ki whea, ahakoa ko wai. >Our objective is that every New Zealander will have the >opportunity to be in paid work. > >The Jobs Research Trust -- a not-for-profit Charitable Trust >constituted in 1994 to develop and distribute information that >will help our communities create more jobs and reduce >unemployment and poverty in New Zealand. > >D I A R Y - THE STATE OF JOBS IN NEW ZEALAND >---------------------------------------------- > >14 September 1997 >A British study has found that if government ministers want to >raise school standards, they should end child poverty instead of >spending more on education. The study, called Literacy, Numeracy >and Economic Performance, by the Centre for Economic Performance >(based at the London School of Economics) says that a serious >programme to tackle child poverty might do far more for boosting >attainment in literacy and numeracy than any modest intervention >in schools. > >16 September 1997 >A report on Tomorrows Schools by the Council for Educational >Research says that teachers and principals are working longer >hours, and increasing numbers of them are describing their >workloads as excessive. > >17 September 1997 >The number of registered unemployed has risen by 7,198 people or >4.4% to reach 170,624. Employment Minister Peter McCardle blames >the rise on a data-matching exercise that has found that >thousands of people receiving the unemployment benefit were not >registered as unemployed. > >Labour's Steve Maharey says that this explanation does not >wash with him. He believes that unemployment is ballooning out of >control, and Peter McCardle's explanation does not explain why >there are more than 16,000 or 10% more people unemployed now than >there were a year ago. > >A new Treasury report on Private Providers in tertiary >education, says that there are 800 PTEs (private training >establishments) half of which have been established since 1990. >The PTEs provide courses for 100,000 students, with some 43% of >the students being Maori (compared with 11% in the mainstream >tertiary sector). > >18 September 1997 >Up to 70 civilian staff at Trentham Army Camp are uncertain about >their job futures after the work they do was awarded to a private >company. > >The Alliance launches a new campaign to build support for >measures to close the gender pay gap. Alliance's Laila Harre: >"The gap between men's and women's wages has increased since the >Employment Contracts Act took effect, and this indicates that the >marketplace alone will not deliver pay equity..." > >19 September 1997 >Ted Turner, the founder of Cable News Network, has >announced plans to donate $1 billion to United Nations >humanitarian agencies over the next 10 years and called on other >wealthy people to do the same. > >The British Chancellor, Gordon Brown, is to spearhead a global >initiative to cancel the debt of the world's poorest countries by >the year 2000. He proposes that by 2000, 75% of the world's >poorest countries should have schemes designed to cancel or >relieve their debt. This will free domestic resources to invest >in education, health and the relief of poverty. > >20 September 1997 >The Wellington City Council is to employ unemployed people >under Community Taskforce to record the number-plates of >motorists who are running red lights in the city. > >Worker's accident pay will be slashed from 80% of their pre- >accident earnings to 65%, if the government accepts official >recommendations as part of a revamp of the ACC. > >21 September 1997 >A Belgian study shows that couples in which both partners >work argue more than couples with one breadwinner. > >The Employment Service in Whangarei is buying bikes for >jobseekers in a bid to get over the district's lack of public >transport. The jobseekers must be able to prove that mobility is >an obstacle to full-time employment. They are issued with a $375 >bike once they start work, and if they are still there after >three months, they get to keep it. > >22 September 1997 >The European Union unemployment rate fell in July for the >second consecutive month, according to figures produced by >Eurostat, the EU's official statistical body. > >The Business Roundtable is calling for a flattening of the tax >scales to reduce the top personal tax rate to 20% or less over >the next few years. > >23 September 1997 >The government makes a Treaty settlement offer to the Ngai >Tahu tribe, which will give Ngai Tahu $170m, and an apology for >the failings of previous governments. The settlement also >includes ownership of land and lakes, and the future dual naming >of many South Island placenames. > >The Ruapehu District Council is restructuring with as many as 41 >staff having to reapply for their jobs. > >Coeur Gold's Golden Cross mine ear Waihi will close at the end of >the year with the loss of 81 jobs. > >24 September 1997 >Private sector wages grew at 1% in the May quarter, slower than >either the markets or the Reserve Bank were expecting. > >Dating agency tactics are being used to pair employers and job >seekers in Tauranga. Business people invited to a breakfast >meeting next month organised by the Employment Service, will be >given profiles of long-term unemployed people eager to find work. >The Tauranga NZES is also to videotape their unemployed clients >as another way of marketing them to employers. > >25 September 1997 >74 students are arrested outside parliament after protests over >the Government Tertiary Review Green Paper which they say is a >"thinly veiled plan to privatise universities and polytechs..." > >26 September 1997 >Thames businesses closed for an hour to protest against planned >tariff cuts which would lead to Thames largest employer, Toyota, >closing down permanently. The Minister of Commerce, John Luxton, >told a hostile rally that the town had to start planning for life >after the death of the plant ... which presently employs 330 >workers and pumps $15m into the district's economy. > >A retiring member of the police executive says that Auckland >needs another 400 police officers if they are going to make >inroads into crime. > >Fletcher Challenge Forests' 1400 employees will have to submit to >drug tests or lose their jobs. > >NZ Post plans to axe 124 jobs as a result of restructuring in its >mail centres. > >NZ'ers have rejected Winston Peters compulsory >superannuation scheme in a referendum with a staggering margin of >92.4% "No" votes to 7.6% "Yes" votes. The New Zealand Herald >describes it as "one of the most stunning referendum results in >world history..." > >27 September 1997 >Ngati Kahungungu tribal leaders have met with Children and >Young persons and Their Families Service (CYPFS) staff to discuss >taking over contracts for youth services for Maori youth from >Wairoa to Wairarapa. The move is part of Social Welfare's iwi >social services strategy, which will lead to increasing numbers >of Maori taking over responsibility for their young people. > >28 September 1997 >The Sunday News reports that many Maori and Pakeha TOPS >providers called to a Christchurch briefing on ETSA's Te Ararau >scheme, greeted the news of a $500 Maori cash-for-jobs bounty >with stony silence, and then walked out in anger. > >29 September 1997 >The National Bank's survey of business confidence has >continued to show signs of strengthening, and is now back at >levels last seen in December 1995. > >30 September 1997 >Firefighters fear more staff cuts are on the way following the >resignation of the Fire Service's National Commander Bob Baillie. >Bailie is the second top executive to quit in a week. > >More than 40 people are losing their jobs at a Hamilton bakery -- >among the first to go in nationwide redundancies following the >Goodman Fielder takeover of Defiance Foods. > >I T E M S -- ESSENTIAL Information on an ESSENTIAL issue >-------------------------------------------------- > >COMMUNITY FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY TASKFORCE >* The government has pledged $5.3m of extra money to help >find more Community Taskforce positions, in a move which >Employment Minister Peter McCardle calls "strengthening community >ownership" of his work-for-the-dole scheme. Fifty "suitable" >community organisations will be offered contracts to place job >seekers onto local Community Taskforce projects. > >McCardle: "This initiative aims to provide significant impetus to >increasing the number of job seekers in community work by >organisations outside the central Government bureaucracy. I am >acutely aware of the links and extra strengths that many >community organisations have in assisting unemployed job seekers, >and this strategy aims to capture that strength..." > >McCardle says that the new money will assist with >strengthening and refocussing existing community organisations' >activities into brokering community work opportunities for long- >term and disadvantaged job seekers in particular. > >* The government announced in the last Budget that it will be >expanding the numbers of long-term unemployed on Community >Taskforce, committing $10.2m in order to get 17,000-20,000 >jobseekers participating in the programme. This latest initiative >is $5.3m of new money and is aimed at contracting the 50 >community organisations to collectively achieve 6,500 of the >Budget's placement target. > >* Note: this new money is not going to the sponsors providing >the Community Taskforce positions, but simply to the selected >community organisations who are facilitating the placements. A >spokesperson from the Minister of Employment says that if >additional resources for sponsors are officially identified as a >barrier to CTF placements, then this will be addressed in the >design of next year's expanded work-for-the-dole scheme. > >* In perhaps a sign of how the future workfare programmes >will be administered, the selected community organisations in >this latest initiative will be known as Community Broker >Organisations, or CBOs, in order to avoid confusion with >community organisations in general. They will be contracted to >deliver job seeker placements, the exact number being negotiated >on a case by case basis. > >This whole process is going to be administered and supported >through the Community Employment Group (CEG) who will be paid >$1.2m of the $5.3 to provide field work support to the CBOs and >to evaluate the initiative. > >* The bottom-line for community groups? This depends on >individual CEG negotiations ... of the $4m left for grants to >community organisations, this averages out at about $80,000 (incl >GST) per group, or a $600 `finders fee' per placement. > >Who will be chosen as a CBO? CEG and NZES are presently >inviting proposals from selected existing organisations ... >especially those already working with the CEG priority groups: >long-term unemployed people, Maori, Pacific Islands people, >women, and people living in disadvantaged urban and rural >communities. CEG will enter into 12-month contracts with the >selected CBOs. > >TAMIHERE COMMENTS >* John Tamihere, Chief Executive of Te Whanau o Waipareira >Trust in West Auckland, criticises the Community Taskforce scheme >as a "plan to move the unemployed around, rather than to create >real employment". Tamihere: "If it means moving resources away >from education and training courses in order to fund community >brokerage, then we are going to have some problems..." > >Tamihere agrees with the co-ordination of projects being put out >to community organisations: "... But what I would like to see >simultaneously is the downsizing of CEG and NZES, so that the >real resources also shift across to us. Otherwise you are just >building a third or fourth level of bureaucracy..." > >ETSA ALSO PLANS CASH FOR JOBS >* The Education and Training Support Agency ETSA is >paying a $500-per head bounty to some TOPS training providers to >help Maori trainees into employment that also provides industry >training. The payments come under the $450,000 Te Ararau training >scheme introduced in this year's Budget in order to help get more >Maori into jobs. > >The Sunday News last weekend branded the scheme a "Maori Job >Bribe", and quoted one Wellington TOPS trainer as saying: "It's >racist, scandalous even. We have always treated Maori and Pakeha >students equally. Now we're being told not to... in this day and >age its appalling..." United leader Peter Dunne questions whether >the scheme would pass a Human Rights Commission scrutiny: "Most >people who are unemployed want work regardless of the colour of >their skin..." >
