Peter Dunne has defended the timing of the announcement of eight job losses at the IRD in Greymouth.

Staff at a North Island freezing works had their pay cut for the official two-minute silence to remember the 29 miners killed in the Pike River mine.

Hours after announcing his resignation from the 95bFM Breakfast Show, Matt Heath has been confirmed as the new Drive show host on Radio Hauraki.

More than 50 sawmill workers at two North Island sawmills have been told they will lose their jobs.

Labour Leader Phil Goff has joined calls for the Government to fund the recovery of the bodies of 29 men trapped in the Pike River mine.

Out-of-work Pike River miners will start finding out today if they have jobs, and if not, how much they will be paid out.

Managers say too many get-togethers are just a waste of time.

Thirty staff at Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts Kawerau Sawmill are losing their jobs.

These days you have to be hyped-up and blissed out simultaneously ... but slow down and think.

The fire which has been raging for days at the Pike River Coal mine is definitely out, say Australians brought in to operate the GAG jet unit which has been pumping carbon dioxide into the mine.

Pike River Coal will have to reduce its workforce when it is ready to re-establish operations, but CEO Peter Whittall says reports of possible receivership were "extremely premature".

Gloomy building and manufacturing stats out this morning have prompted economists to raise the risk of negative GDP.

The Prime Minister has rejected a call from the Retirement Commission to lift the retirement age to 67 by 2033.

The Retirement Commissioner says the age of entitlement for New Zealand Superannuation needs to be raised from 65 to 67 to ensure it remains affordable over the long term.

Add Christmas and the associated financial pressures into the mix, and I suspect this unfortunate trend of employee theft and fraud may continue into 2011.

An operation has begun to extinguish the fire coming from the vent shaft of the Pike River mine and cool the surrounding concrete pad, using water pumped up from a nearby creek.

It could take weeks for a GAG unit to put out a coal fire in the Pike River mine, police say.

West Coast poet Helen Wilson has offered an emotional tribute to the men who lost their lives in the Pike River mine.

Recruitment is the barometer of what is going on; if we are good then businesses are generally good.

December is looming, which means the office Christmas party season, if it isn't already well underway, is about to land upon us with its full, traditional, liver-crushing force.