CTU Media Release

26 February 2013

Hobbit sunshine welcome

The release today of another group of Hobbit documents is welcomed by the CTU and we thank the Ombudsmen for ordering they be made available.

Helen Kelly, CTU President says "the documents confirm that the dispute was settled on the 18 October well before Warners came to New Zealand and before Wellington film workers were told on 20 October that they should demonstrate to lift the boycott. Minister Gerry Brownlee now needs to explain to the public why he too joined in this fiction."

"Clearly the Government and Warners chose to retain this fiction to justify the deal they subsequently made, including the huge unfairness of changing employment law. The documents confirm that Mr Brownlee was of the view the laws should not be changed but despite this went ahead with the law change."

"We now call on the Government to release the final bit of information, the legal opinion it received from Crown Law on this dispute. There is no reason that this is not being made available."

ENDS

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Metservice: Where Will Snow Fall And What To Look Out For

The deep Antarctic air that is expected to sweep across the country this week is bringing very significant weather to many provinces.Here's the official MetService view of the key weather concerns for the country.

MetService Media and Communications Meteorologist Dan Corbett commented,"While snow will be a major issue for those in the South Island, wind and hail will affect many North Island districts."

Snow is expected to fall to sea level, or very near it, from Southland to South Canterbury from late Wednesday into Thursday and Friday. The snow level is expected to rise to 200m from about Christchurch northwards... More>>