lol

CTU: Hobbit labour law changes 'opportunistic' - National - NZ Herald News (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10683613)

oh this will become quite common. i don't suspect that the nation state will last too much longer

wow the fact that it's over a movie is just pathetic. i would have thought the price was higher than that.

Yeah, exactly. We basically just bent over and stretched our arse-cheeks apart with both our hands.

for peter jackson too! i didn't think kiwis were bears

well to be fair he's quite svelte these days

I had heard about this...I read an article on Reuters about something involving a labor dispute that would potentially force the Hobbit movies to be filmed in Europe. I was a little confused by the nature of the dispute...could someone provide the Cliff's Notes version of what was going on prior to this resolution, pardon my idiocy?

Sure. The kiwis attempted to hold the movies hostage and then saber heads told them to go fuck themselves.

The unions behaved like idiots, with some Aussie union declaring strike action out of nowhere. The demands were kind of reasonable, but they basically hi-jacked the process and then tried to claim all they wanted to do was hold talks with Peter Jackson.

Irish unions were able to do this properly by lobbying the government to secure collective bargaining - no strike action, no threatening.

Then there is this worry that Warner Bros were going to take the film elsewhere. So Our Prime Minister gave them tax breaks in excess of 30 million, and offered to subsidise marketing by something like 13 million. They also offered to change labour laws, supposedly making the distinction between independent contractors and employees clearer. To clarify, an employee a=has a variety of workers rights, like holiday pay, pension schemes and the ability to sue for unjustified dismissal. An independent contractor has none of these rights.

Being an IC has benefits if you are a carpenter or something, but with actors they don't have the same freedom to move from job to job, so they are at the behest of whichever company is making the film they are working on.

Basically, this legislation makes it a lot harder - almost impossible - to argue unfair dismissal if you are an actor. Furthermore, even if you have been working for a company for twenty years 9-5, but your contract says you are an independent contractor, you have no recourse to legal help if they suddenly decide to dismiss you.

But the thing is, this has nothing to do with the union action that started the whole problem. Not only that, but Peter Jackson said money wasn't a problem, yet here we are shovelling massive amounts of money into Warner's pockets. So I really don't know what is going on.

On top of all this, people cite the 2005 Bryson case as a reason for clarifying the law, yet the unions and Warner both agree that this case set a precedent.

This whole affair stinks. Not only this, but the legislation is being passed under urgency and will completely bypass the select committee, which means absolutely no input from the public. In fact, the department of labour has had absolutely no time to prepare a statement on how this is going to effect regulation in New Zealand.

Oh well, this is what happens when laws are decided in back-room deals between leaders and representatives of giant multinationals.

Sure. The kiwis attempted to hold the movies hostage and then saber heads told them to go fuck themselves.
Nah

i'm pretty certian the union drama is just a dumb media sideshow. they acted like dicks, they were railroaded by some australians, whatever, but ultimately the transaction wasn't about collective bargaining and those clowns just gave warner brothers another unneeded bargaining chip.

i don't really care about the bonus tax breaks or co-investment. actually the tourism-shit-on-the-dvds stuff seems quite savvy, and likely to benefit us in the long run. but passing another employment rights fuckup law – under urgency [for the furruners: bypassing due process, basically], as the national government has used with unprecedented frequency – is totally unnecessary. really embarrassing. banana republic shit

Yeah, it is the law and how it is being passed that is the problem. For a start, I doubt it has anything to do with keeping Warner here. The measure has absolutely nothing to do with their union concerns. At all. The threat to take the film elsewhere was just a bluff to get some extra shit out of us, and it worked with embarrassing speed. Like you say, banana republic stuff. We are just so keen to let people treat our workers like shit.

Then you get idiots like Patrick Gower saying "oh god the unions cost us 34 million dollars" and as usual the media circus misses the entire point.

oh this will become quite common. i don't suspect that the nation state will last too much longer
...?

but this is an example of hyper-interventionist politics? you know, the kind that would be impossible without a nation state?

the nation state will eventually give up all its rights and sovereignty to stay "competitive"

Votes will become shares

By the way, did you intentionally list your date of birth to be the same date as Ella Fitzgerald's?

no that's my actual month/date and the year was for the October Revolution (and she was 1918, but hey cool coincidence)

Ah, true. I saw 1917 for some reason. Also, two year anniversary of ANZAC day.

Right, I have exhausted all associations with that date.

i knew about ANZAC day already :D it's like the anniversary of Gallipoli isn't it?

it's also Al Pacino's birthday

Yup, the place where in 1915 New Zealand and Australia discovered that Britain really didn't give a fuck about us! My great great uncle was killed there, actually, and my great grandfather survived it, and the Somme, but died of wounds he sustained at Gallipoli in 1952 or something.

I find family history from that period fascinating.

But the real question is, was he considered an employee or an independent contractor?

just be glad that your entire hobbit-based economy is still working

that would be because of farming, thanks

we've all seen the giant pumpkins they grow

Yup, the place where in 1915 New Zealand and Australia discovered that Britain really didn't give a fuck about us!

wow kinda late to figure that out

Well, they had never casually funnelled us through machine gun fire before. I guess that has kind of an effect on a man. It gives you something like a "Wait a second. Who did I just get shot in the groin for?" kind of moment.

Feel like I want to submit that rare Gallipoli footage Peter Jackson restored to America's funniest home videos.

The Australians thought they were here for King and Country, but this savage barrage they received at Lone Pine made them think a whole different thing aaaaaaaltogether.

That war kind of sucked for everyone dude.

Didn't deny that at all. Was more of a comment on how a tiny colonial nation gets its identity.

That war kind of sucked for everyone dude.
don't talk about it man, we lost all our precious colonies

Think about it Alex you could be living in Samoa if it wasn't for that stupid war.

if we hadn't lost teh second one i'd be a proud farmer in siberia now

Or somewhere in the Kaliningrad oblast

alas, a man can dream, can't he?

a man can dream.

yes and there would be no jews anywhere. a veritable german paradise.

by the way i realized no matter who won world war II, there was going to be a Cold War. I was thinking about the onion headline "JAPAN ALLIES WITH WHITE SUPREMACISTS IN WELL THOUGHT OUT MOVE" and if they had won, it would have basically been the same as the West vs. Soviets. Just less ideological and more about sheer power.

Oh and all the Jews would be dead. Which the Omega Concern is secretly for (his secret conspiracy; fan the flames of fear and endorse the idea that Jews are really behind all our ills).

i know some people like to attach some sort of sentiment to the USSR, but FUCK farming in Siberia. Seriously.

Fuck anything in Siberia

You'd have to. It is so barren I don't imagine there would be too many options.

they'll fuck anything in siberia

It's like a cold tundra pie

i've heard that what they'll do in siberia, if they see something, is fuck it

You are in a cold barren wasteland. To your east there is an object.

Fuck that object.

night has fallen. it is pitch black. you are likely to be fucked by a grue

attacking the grue only makes it hornier

The direction of this thread pretty much sums up the way I feel about our government

lets all put red peppers in the bottom of our vodka bottles, and drink to US

that's what they do in Siberia

No man in Siberia they fuck those red peppers.

In Siberia they won't sexting tho

Oh and all the Jews would be dead. Which the Omega Concern is secretly for (his secret conspiracy; fan the flames of fear and endorse the idea that Jews are really behind all our ills).

http://tenburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/drunk.jpg

The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.