NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

<i>Matt McCarten</i>: Collective union forces gather to fight Key attack

Herald on Sunday
24 Jul, 2010 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Prime Minister John Key. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister John Key. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Opinion by

This was supposed to be a good week for John Key and the National Party. It wasn't.

Key's strategists had secretly staged their weekend's party conference at Auckland's casino for some good old-fashioned union bashing, which always gets the party faithful hollering. It's in their DNA.

The intent of throwing red meat to the salivating pack was obviously to distract them from embarrassing Key by bleating about him being too chummy with Maori or asking uncomfortable questions about mining, particularly as we now know he was about to surrender to Princess Xena and the greenies on that front the next day.

Therefore he planned to use his leader's speech to launch a broad front war against workers' rights on behalf of his corporate backers.

This was to be a sneak attack because until recently he had been reassuring the Council of Trade Union leaders in private that he didn't have an anti-worker or anti-union agenda.

Unfortunately for him a draft paper outlining his intentions was leaked.

Included in the paper were some nasty policies that Key had specifically promised union leaders would not be considered by his Government, such as union members being able to have their representative at their place of work without an employer's veto.

When the CTU president Helen Kelly learned of Key's treachery she called an impromptu demo outside his conference to show her displeasure at his double dealing.

This is a new side of Key that most of us aren't familiar with.

It gives some credence to a claim from Bill English's camp several years ago that Key had promised to back English against the Don Brash coup but betrayed him in a secret deal with Brash.

At Sunday's protest, union leaders differed on whether we kept the demo as a rally away from National's conference or initiated a direct challenge by marching to the conference doors. In the end we did both.

Union speakers articulated the arguments against Key's proposed changes to several hundred assembled union workers.

After the rally most of the attendees then marched to the police lines guarding the convention doors Key was hiding behind.

Of course the police had no intention of letting us through.

Unfortunately for them they didn't have all the doors guarded and some of the crowd stormed through the main casino hotel entrance.

I had to go in after them and get them back. It led to a bit of gleeful ribbing by Key in Parliament about John Minto, Sue Bradford and me, saying we would all be sacked under his new laws for storming the wrong building.

It's a bit unfair on Minto as he wasn't actually in the fray, although I was delighted that the former Green MP was right in the thick of it.

Who says Parliament makes you soft?

More seriously, Key's attacks on workers' rights were a surprise though and are the biggest attack on workers' rights in 20 years.

The union movement will have to win public opinion over his more insidious changes.

In 1991, the then leadership of the trade union movement capitulated to that onslaught and workers have been on the back foot ever since.

The difference this time though is that the entire movement will fight.

On Thursday, unions representing 350,000 workers met in Auckland and unanimously committed to a mass mobilisation campaign to defeat Key's attacks.

Obviously individual unions will have differing tactics depending on their culture and membership base.

But I was heartened that every union, state and private sector, staunchly committed themselves to be part of a united campaign.

The example and huge success by the environment movement this week in halting mining isn't lost on trade union leaders.

Neither is the about-turn by the Liberal Party leader Tony Abbot in the Australian election.

He is now promising that his party's earlier attempts to change their employment laws are "dead and buried".

Abbot knows he has no chance of winning an election on an anti-worker platform.

Key might like to reflect on that.

Discover more

Small Business

Plan makes sacking workers easier

18 Jul 04:00 PM
Employment

Protest 'first shot' in fight over changes

18 Jul 04:00 PM
New Zealand|politics

Sick leave change 'not major'

19 Jul 05:18 AM
New Zealand|politics

Meat workers union disappointed at sickie claims

19 Jul 08:57 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

How end-to-end encryption shields online child exploitation

09 May 05:00 PM
New Zealand

Morning quiz: On two-person bicycle, what is the common term for the rider in front?

09 May 05:00 PM
Premium
New Zealand

Defence Force quietly shelves SAS elite unit trained for terrorism response

09 May 05:00 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

How end-to-end encryption shields online child exploitation

How end-to-end encryption shields online child exploitation

09 May 05:00 PM

Internal Affairs blocked over one million attempts to access illegal content last year.

Morning quiz: On two-person bicycle, what is the common term for the rider in front?

Morning quiz: On two-person bicycle, what is the common term for the rider in front?

09 May 05:00 PM
Premium
Defence Force quietly shelves SAS elite unit trained for terrorism response

Defence Force quietly shelves SAS elite unit trained for terrorism response

09 May 05:00 PM
'Like a prison': Students in revolt at posh Auckland school, principal caught on secret recording

'Like a prison': Students in revolt at posh Auckland school, principal caught on secret recording

09 May 05:00 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP