Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Drugs, testing and workplaces

mark taslov

Mon, 06 Mar 2017 01:30:19 +1300

Everywhere
Moments well spent.

Impossible is Nothing.

mark taslov

Sun, 05 Mar 2017 21:17:14 +1300

Retree

Farmer Green

Sun, 05 Mar 2017 04:30:37 +1300

4.30 a.m. Time to hit the track . . . the day awaits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4y3G7uMxb0

Farmer Green

Sun, 05 Mar 2017 04:20:56 +1300

Essential educational material for kids , IMHO. It's a shame the schools don't use it.
Easy to understand why that won't happen though :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWeLPedvMR8

mark taslov

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 22:54:44 +1300

spread the effluent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOnyw9QphzY

Sacha

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 18:29:31 +1300

which type of aquifer are you referring to?

the 'under the ground' sort :)

Sacha

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 18:26:40 +1300

the real cleanup , in respect of nitrate has yet to begin, and the economic consequences nationally are massive.

totally agree. fencing off waterways is a feint.

Katharine Moody

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 18:26:29 +1300

So the real cleanup , in respect of nitrate has yet to begin, and the economic consequences nationally are massive.

In that, I think you and Mike Joy are agreed.

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 16:34:41 +1300

This is the same stage that the discussion reached four years ago in the Fact and Fantasy thread.

https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/hard-news-fact-and-fantasy/?p=276517#post276517

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 16:15:16 +1300

I don't think so ; which type of aquifer are you referring to? I didn't use the term.
Edit : I see what the Greens are saying about shallow aquifers, which is groundwater. Where I farm there is no risk to the main water sources which are artesian – sealed…

Sacha

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 16:13:56 +1300

the waters that Forest and Bird et al want most to be cleaned up , will never be "swimmable" because they are under the ground.

You are conflating the recently announced Green party policy on aquifers with Forest and Bird mapping which waterways the govt's new water standards apply to.

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 16:12:54 +1300

Rather the opposite : that the campaign to fence some waterways was largely window dressing to placate the urbanites. The nitrate was already present through percolation down through the soil profile , before the water even reached the stream. Some honest scientists pointed this out at the outset of the…

mark taslov

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 16:12:29 +1300

Are you overseas?

No. The prospect of arrest is kind of untenable for most people, especially those with families.

Last year, New Zealand had a low net migration loss of New Zealand citizens of just 3100.

andin

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 16:05:47 +1300

Mother Nature will sort it out if we don’t.

State the obvious why dont you!

Katharine Moody

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 15:35:17 +1300

Apparently the waters that Forest and Bird et al want most to be cleaned up , will never be “swimmable” because they are under the ground.

Haven't read the link – but are you making the point that we needn't concern ourselves with the water quality of aquifers?

Katharine Moody

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 15:32:27 +1300

OMG. Are you overseas? Something needs to be done about that – it's preventing many good Kiwi's from coming home, I suspect.

mark taslov

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 15:19:34 +1300

“value added”

Reminds me of the $130,000 required to settle the $50,000 borrowed to attend uni.

mark taslov

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 13:14:44 +1300

Sorry, it was just a link to the Government’s ambitious $2b plan to make some waterways swimmable by 2040 – highlighting a disconnect.

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 12:47:05 +1300

What is in your 2040 link?

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 12:45:04 +1300

Some enlightenment there :-

""This is a problem we've had to deal with for many years... it's not marijuana that's the problem, it's really P, "

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 12:36:33 +1300

taking a dim view of humanity.

Not really. We the people have been intentionally duped into a condition resembling narcolepsy. We wake up slowly , and one at a time . . . . at first.

"it needs to be changed and soon."

Mother Nature will sort it out if…

andin

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 12:18:06 +1300

; the public wants enclaves , infrastructure, cafes, movie theatres, motor racing, new cars , trinkets etc.

A lot of presumption in that statement, and you taking a dim view of humanity. If anyone or anything is to blame it is the dead end direction we have been set on…

mark taslov

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 12:11:25 +1300

All reversible for very little effort in an ” irreducibly pluvial” climate, without despoiling the waters. There is just no public will to do that

2040? Meanwhile on the ground.

On topic:

"It’s a combination of factors, I wouldn’t say it’s…

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 09:46:51 +1300

" Here, the challenge is that the concentrations of nitrates are quite low, so we need to be able to know that it can pick up those small amounts."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/76500070/Manawatu-River-sensor-could-revolutionise-nutrient-monitoring

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 09:02:51 +1300

Shocking news this morning at 5 a.m.
Apparently the waters that Forest and Bird et al want most to be cleaned up , will never be "swimmable" because they are under the ground.
You wouldn't read about it.
And I see Joyless Mike still repeating his nonsense about the Manawatu…

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 08:44:40 +1300

The days when one attended university in order to read a subject are long gone for all but the most privileged, among whom I should count myself.

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 08:21:23 +1300

happiness is a swarm gun...
Who will help me eat this bread ?
I, said the locus,,
at any locus....

;- )

linger

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 08:06:24 +1300

a cleaner market test of our universities and PTEs – they’d have to sell themselves on the educational value-addOnly under a far-too-narrow definition of educational “value added” as “increased income potential”, as if that were the only reason for education. Sometimes I despair of (most) economists.

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 07:07:22 +1300

a lack of aptitude for development.

Appropriate development , surely?
We produce protein to satisfy the needs of 20 million people, and we sell it on the world market so that we can import items considered to be essential for our continued existence.
Mate, $80k will get you a mansion…

Farmer Green

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 06:49:53 +1300

That does not quite address my question ; why can it not be successfully argued that we can develop all these needed skills using both our own reproductive capacity and educational facilities?
Are both of those things beyond us?

Katharine Moody

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 23:50:59 +1300

Michael Reddell, an economist who has done a lot of commentary/analyses on immigration on his blog, suggested this today:

I’m still tantalised by the idea of only giving residency to people with a job paying more than $150K per annum (plus the refugee quota). It isn’t ideal, and probably skews…

mark taslov

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 19:49:44 +1300

I guess one could make the argument that ecologically it might be best that most of us left these islands in the hands of a few esteemed and noble custodians ;)

As much as immigration is lined up to become a key election issue, it’s but a symptom of poor…

Farmer Green

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 16:53:01 +1300

It would be interesting to see someone argue that we don't need any immigration at all : that we are perfectly capable of producing whatever level of population is considered optimal for this country, and educating them to the required standard.
It does seem that NZers in general place great…

Katharine Moody

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 13:45:59 +1300

What The Herald just revealed from an OIA request.

More proof Bill English is a liar. All along he has known that the immigration settings were competing with young Kiwis for jobs. It implies to me that foreign students turned residents with Level 5 qualifications are taking up work that NZ…

mark taslov

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 13:05:15 +1300

OSH

There’s some votes tied up with that, ripe for the picking.

Farmer Green

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 07:10:13 +1300

From your link:-

"....... there is widespread, or there is a reasonable amount of, drug use among young people, apparently," he said .

Well! Duh!!

Looks like backpedalling/damage control to me.
WTF is a reasonable amount of drug use?

mark taslov

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 21:07:14 +1300

He’s still at it:

"Drug use is common in New Zealand"

Perhaps he saw the poll?

Maybe he hasn’t been keeping up with the news?

"In some communities now, we’re starting to get a bit more concern about P again and its prevalence,"

Newshub last weekend:

Government figures show the…

Farmer Green

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 19:36:47 +1300

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-01/dear-president-trump-if-you-want-cut-healthcare-costs-stem-opiate-death-spiral-legal#comment-9110535

A libertarian view :-)

Farmer Green

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 19:24:25 +1300

Slightly off topic, but welcome support for a rational approach?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-01/dear-president-trump-if-you-want-cut-healthcare-costs-stem-opiate-death-spiral-legal

David Hood

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 15:20:34 +1300

The rate of positive tests for beneficiaries is relevant only to the beneficiary population. What about the positives for non-beneficiary applicants and also those beneficiaries and non beneficiaries who avoid jobs where they know they will be tested?

This imaginary pool of independently wealthy (because they are not on benefits)…

Moz

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 10:25:59 +1300

If sanctionable drug detection tests on job seekers produce such sparkling results why not institute sanctionable

... drug tests on politicians? If you can't pick fruit while stoned, legislating while high should be utterly beyond the pale. Although that might explain some of the f*ups we see coming from that…

Kumara Republic

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 02:22:18 +1300

Not surprisingly, primary industries experienced near-total de-unionisation following the passage of the Employment Contracts Act 1991.

linger

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 21:09:13 +1300

Polygraphs don't work to an evidential standard, so we'd have to be giving politicians some kind of truth drug ... which would destroy the parallelism :-/

william blake

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 19:32:10 +1300

If sanctionable drug detection tests on job seekers produce such sparkling results why not institute sanctionable lie detection tests on politicians?

John Farrell

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 17:39:46 +1300

I roister over half a bottle of wine, occasionally!

Hilary Stace

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 17:28:12 +1300

They should start drug testing those National Superannuation beneficiaries. Could be some interesting stats there – many of those over 65 year old baby boomers who grew up in the 1960s and 70s are probably still partying.

(I don't really mean it)

Bart Janssen

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 17:16:17 +1300

A definition of beneficiary may be helpful to the argument.

Essentially the term is being used to describe the sample of 8000 job applicants that WINZ (or whatever they are called this week) keeps data on.

It is probably pretty representative of all job applicants. To go from .17% to…

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:55:04 +1300

Rugby ...recreational drug use . . ..professional performance
Which for some reason reminded me of the Massey University rugby team known as the Ys, who during the early seventies only ever trained at the pub, discussing moves no doubt, and for whom a joint at half time often produced some…

mark taslov

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:53:39 +1300

Beneficiary

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:47:37 +1300

beneficiaries are not representative
A definition of beneficiary may be helpful to the argument.

linger

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:41:08 +1300

Which is to say, any difference between data for beneficiaries, and data for people applying for low-level jobs such as fruit-picking, should not be expected to be huge.

linger

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:22:24 +1300

Of course, it could be argued that beneficiaries, by definition, have less disposable income than full-time paid employees, and therefore less opportunity for recreational drug use. But (i) that assumption ignores the fact that most paid jobs are not full-time, and are insufficiently remunerated to support regular recreational drug use;…

Bart Janssen

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 14:43:32 +1300

So you are going to argue that beneficiaries are not representative of…

Tinakori

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 14:30:58 +1300

"But your unwavering defense of our PM is admirable."

As is your touching faith that officials or English's office know (or can know) the full story.

The rate of positive tests for beneficiaries is relevant only to the beneficiary population. What about the positives for non-beneficiary applicants and also those…

Katharine Moody

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:58:45 +1300

Winston Peters – two FB posts on it and this release;

http://www.winstonpeters.co.nz/2017/03/01/4000-apply-for-just-26-jobs-were-3974-lazy-or-drug-addicts/

Dunne of course just put out a release supporting the Nats immigration policy – can't even go near the topic of Bill's dog whistle!

And the Maori Party are glaring by their absent comment. What's that about, I…

mark taslov

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:35:15 +1300

Take a quick look at the NBR reportage

If it’s not behind the paywall I might be able to afford that data. ;)

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:30:02 +1300

RRobertson defending druggies absolutely works for the Nats.
Take a quick look at the NBR reportage and particularly the comments to see how well Bill's comment is going down.
A certain Farmer Brown made a brief attempt to balance the scales, but no go.
Nobody is going near the evidence…

mark taslov

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 12:22:00 +1300

Translation: I don’t pay locals enough for them to afford a reliable car each, or even one reliable car between three or four of them. The pay is so low that if anything better turns up they’ll do that.

Exactly, Grant Robertson was right to point out that this is…

Moz

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 12:07:46 +1300

We have never looked for employees: they come to us.

That is common, and it's also why job ads are mostly for shitty jobs.

When I used to "exploit recent immigrants" in a slightly different context it was telling that whenever someone came to me to apologise for having found…

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:59:31 +1300

I see no case law relating to the subject. The moot point is whether or not an employer in a safety sensitive industry, who does not want to drug test his employees, can be held liable if a drug related accident occurs.

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:49:35 +1300

Yep. If he’ s not an outright arsehole , then he is stupid. He is shooting himself in the foot.
You are right about there being no necessity for drug testing. The supervisor’s job is to look after the employee, whatever the problem. That means the supervisor must be a…

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:41:41 +1300

That seems fair.

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:40:45 +1300

The points that you make are quite valid, and that is why the share- farming system was prevalent in the dairy industry. The self – employed sharemilker is free to work as long and as hard as he likes.
But solutions do exist where profitability is not limiting.
We farm…

John Farrell

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:31:08 +1300

By all means place a blanket ban – but tell the truth about why you do it.

Moz

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:29:24 +1300

it seems like a gross generalisation to me.

You're right. Let me re-phrase: that particular dairy farmer who could only attract the truly desperate and didn't like it is an arsehole. He should offer higher wages and/or better conditions, that's how a market works.

As far as casual work goes,…

Katharine Moody

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:27:10 +1300

I think the thing with farming is that it has never suited an hourly-rate type wage model – that's the essence of the family farm and the nature of the old NZ farming community – relatives and other farmers pitched in without the need for remuneration when required, and the…

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:25:18 +1300

I don’t disagree with your statement, but every individual has the right to impose a blanket ban if he / she does not want the risk or the hassle. The pool of suitable labour to select from will be much smaller, but the right to be selective remains.
The employer…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:15:49 +1300

The OSH laws in relation to drug use identify “safety – sensitive ” workplaces as having a special status.
It is far from inconceivable that , in the event of a farm accident, a farmer could be held liable for having endangered other workers by employing someone known to have…

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:11:33 +1300

ng that the wages and conditions on dairy farms only attract the truly desperate

That is no small exaggeration : it seems like a gross generalisation to me.

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:05:03 +1300

The essence is contained in the compulsory employment contract which must contain the phrase – "the hours of work are such as shall be agreed from time to time between the parties".
So it always goes both ways. And at the end of each casual employment session , the contract…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 10:56:11 +1300

Benedict Collins with the actual numbers on Checkpoint yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_59PJFQ-58

Moz

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 10:51:49 +1300

locals, ’cause on average I only get 30 every day … They just don’t turn up, they couldn’t get a ride, I don’t know, but their reliability, I mean, you just can’t depend on it.”

Translation: I don't pay locals enough for them to afford a reliable car each, or…

Katharine Moody

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 10:32:32 +1300

And he repeated the diatribe on TVNZ Seven Sharp. I'm seriously thinking of lodging a complaint with the broadcasters and then the BSA. Did that regarding the JK 'cage' stunt and eventually the BSA made the right call on that one... but their ruling hardly got a mention in the…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 10:08:01 +1300

But of course he will have reached a far smaller audience than this idiot.

Oh, good grief.

Hosking declares MSD’s drug-testing + sanctions regime “exposed just how bad the [drug] problem was”.

NO, IT DIDN’T. THAT'S THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT YOU MORON.

(Sorry, that was my text version of shouting…

Farmer Green

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 10:07:25 +1300

Most employers live in fear of a workplace accident being investigated by the OSH police, and agriculture has some of the worst accident statistics in the country.
The OSH laws in relation to drug use identify "safety – sensitive " workplaces as having a special status.
It is far from…

Bart Janssen

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 09:25:15 +1300

So you are conceding that English was told these things by employers. Therefore he wasn't lying when he said so. Thanks for that.

I am still saying English was lying.

As I explained in the bit that your confirmation bias made you unable to understand –
Those statements would have…

Katharine Moody

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 09:04:43 +1300

FUCKSAKE.

Refusal to accept factual data on this issue is one thing, but the complete absence of empathy and compassion in so many National Party members and supporters is even more disturbing.

Katharine Moody

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 08:54:04 +1300

The fuck? So they’re to be banned from ever working again?

The NZ Drug Foundation pointed this problem out in a tweet – said that past criminal records for possession/social supply was more a barrier to work for many young people. Straight-forward calling English out as a dog whistler:

NZ…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 08:48:28 +1300

From NBR (paywalled):

Employers and Manufactures Association chief executive Kim Campbell says the problem is bigger than Mr English might be letting on.

“What he hasn’t said, which is a bigger problem, is people aren’t presenting themselves for work for the jobs in the first place because they are whacked…

Russell Brown

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 08:31:41 +1300

The same goes for the dairy industry. A mid-Canterbury dairy farmer who didn’t want to be named told Newshub he employed and housed four immigrant workers, and has just employed another one because the only two Kiwis who applied had drug records.

The fuck? So they're to be banned from…

Tom Semmens

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 07:53:15 +1300

Failed crackpot economic theory creates hopeless underclass, instead of offering to pay to help clean up it's economic fuck ups it blames the underclass and seeks to replace it with indentured labour from the third world.

mark taslov

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 02:04:12 +1300

Sorry – doubled up.

mark taslov

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 02:02:48 +1300

September 2016:

Immigrant workers needed due to NZers’ work ethic, drug use – PM

Leon Stallard – a grower, a director at Horticulture New Zealand and a former president of the Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association – told RNZ host Jesse Mulligan that he agreed with Mr Key’s comments.

“I would…

Kumara Republic

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 23:50:19 +1300

And if it's anything to go by, addiction to opiods and other drugs is a bellwether for American counties that strongly voted Trump. What if in NZ, those written off/smeared as 'too stoned to work' are swayed by a 'burn it all down' strongman who makes Winston Peters look moderate?

linger

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 23:32:43 +1300

It also indicates that for Blinglish, the off-the-record opinions of unnamed employers will always count more than the lives of workers.
He’s spreading lies, and he’s fully aware of it, the conniving bastard.
Whether they’re originally his own lies is entirely beside the point.

Kumara Republic

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 23:23:29 +1300

I sometimes wonder if the real reason for "ghost drug-testing" is to reinforce US-style right-to-work dogma & prevent unions organising, particularly in the agriculture sector.

Joe Wylie

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 23:21:03 +1300

NewShub backs the PM's desperate dog-whistling anecdata.

English's stiff and shallow attempts at justifying failed policy show that he hasn't learned much from the good years he enjoyed in Key's shadow. Back in the limelight there's no disguising that the old whiff of political death he exuded as opposition leader…

Katharine Moody

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 22:46:02 +1300

So you are conceding that English was told these things by employers.

He may well have been told these things, but that doesn't mean that Bill, like anyone else who reads the news and understands the worker exploitation and human trafficking that NZ is becoming so well known for, would…

Sacha

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 21:20:01 +1300

NewShub backs the PM's desperate dog-whistling anecdata.

CEO of Horticulture New Zealand Mike Chapman says it's a real problem, and he has many employees not willing to give up drugs.

"We are getting 50 percent of these Kiwis saying 'no, sorry, I'm not prepared to change my lifestyle, I like…

Tinakori

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 20:39:47 +1300

So you are conceding that English was told these things by employers. Therefore he wasn't lying when he said so. Thanks for that. The rest of your argument is more appropriate for a representative of the Society of Jesus than someone employed as a scientist.

mark taslov

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 17:22:05 +1300

Scales.

Moz

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 17:18:14 +1300

they wanted to be able to ... have a handy reason to sack "problematic" workers

That's been my observation. The one company I've been at that introduced this had an all-staff meeting to explain it. When I suggested that we randomly draw names from a hat, or throw dice to…

andin

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:13:10 +1300

How does Christie have any credibility as anything now??

Amazing where money and being one-eyed(focus is the buzzword for that)can get you these days

Sacha

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:03:34 +1300

when he decided to make that claim he knew it was false, he knew that what those employers said to him was false.

Joyce and comms staff will have been in charge of the line-making. English just delivers what he has been told to, like his predecessor did.

No doubt…

Emma Hart

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 15:53:38 +1300

This also applies to the ski industry.

A company I shan't name tried to bring in drug testing for their theatrical technicians a couple of years ago. I was talking to the guy who was going to have to enforce it, and hated the idea, and knew that a lot…

nzlemming

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 15:43:55 +1300

But that's the kind is bollocks you expect from a five year old – not THE PRIME MINISTER.

Correct.

mark taslov

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 15:39:20 +1300

Compared to:

the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme in the horticulture and viticulture industries, which was increased to 9,500 workers in 2015/16 from 9,000 the previous year.

Compared to:

140,000 unemployed people in New Zealand

In Lusk country – who incidentally might be out hunting today by the sounds of…

Ian Dalziel

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 15:18:05 +1300

‘Anecdata’ is a great word.
Meanwhile the rest of the 'silver surfer' cohort struggle towards the light as we enter our 'anecdotage'....
I remember (I hope) when...

Bart Janssen

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 15:14:16 +1300

I very much doubt that English or any other politician would say that employers were telling him this if they were not.

Which is exactly my point. You doubt he lied. You can't bring yourself to believe anything else. You want to trust him because, well, he's the PM.

But…

Russell Brown

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 15:00:57 +1300

So the employers lied to English, then?

It seems like the kind of anecdote that gains weight through repeated bitching.

Worik

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:58:55 +1300

Nice article. Hideous problem When a person's quality is judged by a urine sample...

Russell Brown

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:58:40 +1300

And this response to an OIA shows a rate of just 0.017 for beneficiaries in 2015.

It came out to 0.17% of clients for me. What a crisis!

John Farrell

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:57:45 +1300

So the employers lied to English, then?

Daniel Wilton

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:56:35 +1300

There was an interesting theme in yesterday's news, firstly in the morning the character of those requiring emergency accommodation was severely attacked as they were all lumped into the group of being problem cases who were the worst of the worst.

Then the pivot from record immigration to people are…

Tinakori

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:53:07 +1300

"He

LIED:"

Really? How do you know. Are you a mole in English's entourage who monitored his each and every encounter?

Politicians – left right and middle – circulate widely in our communities and get told stuff by people of every political persuasion, including the politically agnostic. When they get…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:31:45 +1300

Which brings us to Prime Minister Bill English's anecdata yesterday about employers who tell him they have trouble finding prospective employees who can pass a drug test. He LIED:

fixed that for you.

Seriously, our PM told a bald-faced lie. And nobody in the media was willing to say that.…

Bart Janssen

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:22:48 +1300

franchising lawyer, an accountant, a professional director, a toxicologist and Christie

WTF!

Ok a public service announcement is needed – if you ever see a board with this structure run away, don't walk, don't pause just run.

How does Christie have any credibility as anything now??

Martin Brown

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 14:06:52 +1300

'Anecdata' is a great word.

Maxine Campbell

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 13:53:11 +1300

And this response to an OIA shows a rate of just 0.0017 for beneficiaries in 2015.
https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/official-information-responses/290416-beneficiary-statistics.pdf

Gregor Ronald

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 13:31:04 +1300

"...drug-testing was a good way to lose the race for talent..." This also applies to the ski industry. Zealous management at a major US resort implemented testing several years ago, and they couldn't get enough staff to work the chairlifts and cafes. They did some fast talking and wound back…

Russell Brown

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 12:45:26 +1300

Some useful commentary from Norml's Chris Fowlie, who notes that the forestry industry has enthusiastically embraced drug-testing for years without improving its record, suggesting that the key to the problem lies elsewhere.

Russell Brown

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 12:38:49 +1300

The Standard pitches in.

Russell Brown

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 12:12:43 +1300

And, yes, that included “culture change” Kiwirail management having beer fridges & drinks cabinets removed from offices, on the sensible grounds that it really wasn’t a good look while elsewhere drinking on the job would be grounds for dismissal.

Nice one. A gesture, but a meaningful one.

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 12:01:20 +1300

New Zealand Rugby and other employers might be better served by treating drug use the way they do (or should) alcohol use: be aware of problematic use, test for actual impairment, counsel

Exactly – my partner worked in the rail industry for over fifty years, but management and unions put…

bob daktari

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 11:34:29 +1300

I guess businesses like the Drug Detection Agency are the obvious result of the free market seeing easy money to be made... hell its tempting to take their Franchisee discovery tour

Public Address

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 11:34:29 +1300

Discussion from blog post.