Hobbit law

[Gob]

Hobbit legislation passed in New Zealand

Many New Zealanders had campaigned hard for the movies to be made in their country

New Zealand's parliament has passed legislation that will keep the production of two Hobbit films in the country.

The government agreed to amend labour laws as part of a deal with Warner Bros to retain the $500m (£315m) project.

Warner had threatened to move production elsewhere because of a dispute with acting unions.

The labour minister said the government had not been willing to see thousands of jobs lost because of the row.

"We were not prepared to see the hard work of the many talented New Zealanders who built our film industry from scratch put at risk," Kate Wilkinson told parliament

But the opposition has criticised the deal.

"What is the government going to do next - give in to any multi-national that asks for a labour standard to be diluted in return for some form of investment?" said Labour Party lawmaker Charles Chauvel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11649734

[SisterMaryFellatio]

Bastards...we were fighting for this on the Gold Coast!

[Lord Jim]

"What is the government going to do next - give in to any multi-national that asks for a labour standard to be diluted in return for some form of investment?" said Labour Party lawmaker Charles Chauvel.

I imagine that would depend entirely on the size of the investment, and the number of jobs that would be lost if a compromise wasn't reached. (Not to mention all the money brought in for local businesses not directly related to the production; hotels, restaurants, catering services, etc.)

As it should.

[Scooter]

So it's perfectly ok to bar certain classes of workers wholesale from having recourse to any protection under labour law? To give certain industries licence to treat their workers as disposable slaves? Because that is what this legislation does. No minimum wage, no maximum hours of work, no paid vacation, dismissal without notice, all of which and more the Dark Lord Jackson imposed on his workforce during production of LOTR by claiming they were "independent contractors". Horseshit No one working for a Hollywood producer has the independence of an antebellum slave. A worker who was dismissed without notice went to court, and in a case that went all the way to the NZ Supreme Court, was deemed to be an employee, to be afforded all the protections that NZ employment standards law allows. Jackson didn't like it, and so demanded, as a condition of bringing the production of The Hobbit to NZ, that labour laws be changed so that no one would be considered an employee unless he decided it would be so.

It sets back workers' rights in NZ almost a hundred years.

[Lord Jim]

You're right Scoot...

Flushing thousands of jobs (good paying jobs, btw, by any reasonable standard) and many millions in revenue beyond that for the local economy down the toilet would have been the far better choice...

That'll show them....

[The Hen]

Kiwis have a HUGE chip on their shoulders about Australians.

I expect nothing less from them than to flush away their rights JUST to make sure the work doesn't come over here.

Next thing you know, this will all be our fault.

We're used to it. We'll ignore that too.

[rubato]

Allowing companies to dismantle public policy piecemeal to gain a temporary advantage here and there is a slow race for the bottom in std of living.


I can't see why New Zealanders would have a chip on their shoulders. They have a far better reputation internationally.


yrs,
rubato

[The Hen]

Absolutely. Yet still the path to allowing companies to dismantle public policy was taken.

They put the chip there themselves.

[loCAtek]

Whoa, we don't even go this far with the Chinese, and I thought NZ was fairly alright economically?

Why whore themselves, so?

[rubato]

"...
They put the chip there themselves.

Or its existence is pretended by others.

yrs,
rubato