Ministry and Union Agree to Talk: Plans for Industrial Action Shelved.

Christchurch District Courts NUPE members have agreed to put plans for industrial action on hold while the Union and the Ministry of Justice sit down for talks later this month.

“Our members have high hopes that we will make progress towards a collective employment agreement with the Ministry of Justice in discussions we have scheduled for 19 January and 11 February” said NUPE Organiser John Kerr.

“The Ministry has agreed to listen to concerns and we have frozen our plans for industrial action. Members see this as very positive and are optimistic that the discussions will be fruitful” continued Mr Kerr.

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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>>