2023 is a big year for organised labour action.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have walked off their jobs at a rate not seen in decades, with new data claiming over 18 million days have been lost to strikes so far this year.

Back on New Zealand shores, 850,000 workdays have been lost to strikes between January and May, according to MBIE reports.

Milford Asset Management's Deborah Lambie says unionised workers receive pay reviews less frequently, and low unemployment gives these workers extra leverage in negotiations.

LISTEN ABOVE

2023 is a big year for organised labour action.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have walked off their jobs at a rate not seen in decades, with new data claiming over 18 million days have been lost to strikes so far this year.
Back on New Zealand shores, 850,000 workdays have been lost to strikes between January and May, according to MBIE reports.
Milford Asset Management's Deborah Lambie says unionised workers receive pay reviews less frequently, and low unemployment gives these workers extra leverage in negotiations.
LISTEN ABOVE

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Deborah Lambie: Milford Asset Management analyst on the uptick in strikes in 2023

It's a massive weekend for Auckland as the much-awaited CRL, the City Rail Link, finally opens to the public. And there is excitement. Five and a half billion dollars and 10 years of chaos have come to this. The question will be asked: was it all worth it?

Firstly, I have to say it never needed to be so expensive because it never needed to be this late. The idea of a rail link between Auckland and Morningside was first mooted in 1912 and again in 1918. There was even a plan drawn up in 1923. Robbie, Dove-Myer Robinson, talked about it in the 1970s. But it wasn't until 2003 that we finally pulled our finger out and started doing something about it.

Imagine if we'd built it in the 1920s. Imagine if we'd built it in the 1930s, when Australia was building underground rail and the Harbour Bridge. But no, we were afraid of it. We hesitated. If only we'd had the courage of our convictions back then, when it was cheaper and easier.

And it's not like we've always been this timid and overly cautious. Construction of the Central Motorway Junction, affectionately known as Spaghetti Junction, began in the 1960s. If you think the disruption caused by the CRL was significant, consider what happened then. To build Spaghetti Junction for the car, they effectively eradicated an entire inner-city suburb. Yet these days we lose our heads over a couple of inner-city streets, a few barber shops and some traffic cones.

My own memories of the debate are full of toxic misinformation and, can I say, that came from all the radio stations and plenty of politicians. People were calling it a loop. It's never been a loop. It's a link. It's a through-link.

People would say, "Well, it's a loop. What about the Simpsons monorail? What about the Sydney monorail?" But it was never anything like that. It was a link. It joined two previously disconnected parts of a railway network we'd already invested in.

Those myths made much of the conversation unnecessarily fraught. But there we go. It's happened. It's done. Thank God for that.

Now that it's finished, people will be demanding a revolution. It won't be a revolution. It will be an evolution. But it is the single biggest step we had to take to allow our biggest city to grow even bigger. It's what we needed to do to show we're not afraid of growth. That we're not the timid New Zealanders Christopher Luxon has so often accused us of being, and that our businesses are not afraid of growth either.

LISTEN ABOVE 

It's a massive weekend for Auckland as the much-awaited CRL, the City Rail Link, finally opens to the public. And there is excitement. Five and a half billion dollars and 10 years of chaos have come to this. The question will be asked: was it all worth it?
Firstly, I have to say it never needed to be so expensive because it never needed to be this late. The idea of a rail link between Auckland and Morningside was first mooted in 1912 and again in 1918. There was even a plan drawn up in 1923. Robbie, Dove-Myer Robinson, talked about it in the 1970s. But it wasn't until 2003 that we finally pulled our finger out and started doing something about it.
Imagine if we'd built it in the 1920s. Imagine if we'd built it in the 1930s, when Australia was building underground rail and the Harbour Bridge. But no, we were afraid of it. We hesitated. If only we'd had the courage of our convictions back then, when it was cheaper and easier.
And it's not like we've always been this timid and overly cautious. Construction of the Central Motorway Junction, affectionately known as Spaghetti Junction, began in the 1960s. If you think the disruption caused by the CRL was significant, consider what happened then. To build Spaghetti Junction for the car, they effectively eradicated an entire inner-city suburb. Yet these days we lose our heads over a couple of inner-city streets, a few barber shops and some traffic cones.
My own memories of the debate are full of toxic misinformation and, can I say, that came from all the radio stations and plenty of politicians. People were calling it a loop. It's never been a loop. It's a link. It's a through-link.
People would say, "Well, it's a loop. What about the Simpsons monorail? What about the Sydney monorail?" But it was never anything like that. It was a link. It joined two previously disconnected parts of a railway network we'd already invested in.
Those myths made much of the conversation unnecessarily fraught. But there we go. It's happened. It's done. Thank God for that.
Now that it's finished, people will be demanding a revolution. It won't be a revolution. It will be an evolution. But it is the single biggest step we had to take to allow our biggest city to grow even bigger. It's what we needed to do to show we're not afraid of growth. That we're not the timid New Zealanders Christopher Luxon has so often accused us of being, and that our businesses are not afraid of growth either.
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Perspective with Andrew Dickens: Will the CRL be worth the wait?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/64532b29-6ec0-43da-9cbd-b4c20072ad8e/transcript

Firefighters from the New York City Fire Department flew out to New Zealand to do the Sky Tower walk today to commemorate the 343 firefighters who were killed 25 years ago on September 11th, 2001.

New York firefighter Dave Morkal was on ground zero that day, and he joined Andrew Dickens to discuss. 

"As soon as we got there it was work is on. This is what we have to do. We have to save as many people as we can."

LISTEN ABOVE 

Firefighters from the New York City Fire Department&nbsp;flew out to New Zealand to do the Sky Tower walk today to commemorate the 343 firefighters who were killed 25 years ago on September 11th, 2001.
New York firefighter Dave Morkal was on ground zero that day, and he joined Andrew Dickens to discuss.&nbsp;
"As soon as we got there it was work is on.&nbsp;This is what we have to do.&nbsp;We have to save as many people as we can."
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Dave Morkal: New York firefighter chats 25 years after he was at ground zero on 9/11

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/28806674-d8fb-462a-8af2-b4c200608855/transcript

Beloved museums and zoos in New Zealand, like Wellington Zoo, Orana Wildlife Park, and MOTAT, are struggling to keep the lights on.

Orana Wildlife Trust Board co-chair Dr Ken Hughey joined Andrew Dickens to discuss the financial difficulties facing them and other similar attractions. 

The financial struggles are not contributed to visitor numbers, which Hughey says are increasing, but instead the operating costs.

"The difficulty with the model that pretty much all of the large zoos, and there are other entities like that as well... is that they're becoming more and more expensive to run."

LISTEN ABOVE

Beloved museums and zoos in New Zealand, like Wellington Zoo, Orana Wildlife Park, and MOTAT, are struggling to keep the lights on.
Orana Wildlife Trust Board co-chair Dr Ken Hughey joined Andrew Dickens to discuss the financial difficulties facing them and other similar attractions.&nbsp;
The financial struggles are not contributed to visitor numbers, which Hughey says are increasing, but instead the operating costs.
"The difficulty with the model that pretty much all of the large zoos, and there are other entities like that as well... is that they're becoming more and more expensive to run."
LISTEN ABOVE

Dr Ken Hughey: Orana Wildlife Trust Board co-chair on financial woes

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/0f08f3fa-f6e8-4d00-9843-b4c2005ebef7/transcript

Deborah Lambie: Milford Asset Management analyst on the uptick in strikes in 2023

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