Industrial stoppages have cost the country more than $900,000 in the first three months of this year and indications are that the cost of strikes will be worse for the June quarter, due to the Employment Relations Act, ACT leader Richard Prebble says.

"The government said the new law would improve industrial relations. But if you take strikes as a measure, it's clear that the industrial scene has deteriorated," Mr Prebble said.

"Statistics NZ figures show there were eight major disputes during the March 2001 quarter, which cost a total of 6206 person-days of work and an estimated $934,000 loss in wages and salaries.

"ACT believes from business feedback that the June quarter figures will show a further increase in industrial militancy. I predict the losses due to strikes for the June quarter will be twice the March figure.

"New Zealand history has shown that industrial militancy leads to more militancy.

"The government should realise that everyone loses in a strike ' not just the employer but also every employee, most of whom can't afford to lose the money and will never make it up," Mr Prebble said.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>