The union wishlist for Labour
The Dom Post reported:
A senior Labour Party office holder has accused the party hierarchy of treating Pacific party members merely as campaign workers and voting fodder.
The Labour Party’s Mana Tagata Pasefika chairman Shane Laulu says it is at risk of losing the traditional support of Pacific members if they are not given more prominence.
In a letter addressed to Labour Party official Paul Tolich and John Ryall, the Service and Food Workers Union national secretary, Mr Laulu said he was disappointed at the lack of “Pacific candidates and their overall ranking order”.
Mr Laulu said the Labour Party was in danger of losing the support of the Pacific community because of a fallacy “their vote is a given”.
“I believe Pacific party members have moved beyond being seen as only campaign workers and voting fodder.”
Mr Laulu, who has been a member of the Service and Food Workers Union for the past decade, wrote the letter after unions, including the EPMU, SFWU, dairy workers and meatworkers’ union, published their preferred rankings of Labour candidates.
The letter and list rankings were obtained by The Dominion Post.
The full list of rankings is meant to go online, but I don’t think it has, so I got a copy off the reporter. The unions wishlist is:
- Andrew Little – EPMU
- Michael Wood – FINSEC
- Jerome Mika – EPMU
- Deb Mahuta
- Brenda Alexander
- Mea’ole Keil – SWFU
- Josie Pagani – Rangitikei
- Jordan Carter
- Christine Rose – Rodney
- Kate Sutton
- Sehai Orgad – Hamilton East
- Nicola Vallance
- Peter Foster
It will be interesting to see how closely this follows the final list. The unions have a pact that that they are all obliged to vote in the order they have agreed, as a bloc. This gives them considerable strength at the regional list rankings and the national list ranking.
One may wonder how many new MPs will Labour get? Last election they got 43, and generally they have polled below this level. But let’s assume they get 43 MPs again.
Retiring MPs are Pete Hodgson, George Hawkins, Mita Ririnui and Lynne Pillay. So assuming they protect their current MPs, they should get 4 new MPs. However three of these will be electorate MPs in Dunedin North, Manurewa and Wigram. So if Labour get 43 MPs again, they may have just new List MP.
This suggests to me they will need to rank Little above some of the caucus to guarantee him a place.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:08 am
This is what you get when you vote in people according to proportation instead of ability. Are we seeing the first stirings of a separate Pacific party that is not alligined to Labour?
March 14th, 2011 at 9:12 am
Well, I sure hope the unions get their wishlist. Because these are the most unelectable 13 people I could imagine the Labour party putting into play. If the unions get their way (and they won’t) then Labour won’t get anything near 43 MPs in this election.
I can well imagine many senior Labour MPs doing a complete face-palm when they have to deal with the idiots in the unions on this sort of thing.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:12 am
Pull up a chair & grab the chippies. This is going to get ugly.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:19 am
That list demonstrates all that is wrong with MMP, 13 career troughers and 13 totally unelectable individuals.
Parliament is supposed to be a house of representatives, people elected by their peers, that list (with the possible exception of Little) does not represent democracy at all.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:25 am
The downside of diversity – demands for people to be put in power based on their group identity.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:30 am
Too be fair, Andrew Little is capable and is almost certainly going to get a high list ranking. So he’ll be in the house after the next election, even if he can’t carry New Plymouth with him.
But the other 12 are no-hopers who I really don’t think would ever be able to get in to Parliament via winning an electorate seat.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:36 am
What ranking list is this supposd to be? It’s obviously not for the full party list.
Brenda Alexander failed Labour candiacy for the Dunedin North electorate. She should rank above sitting MPs? She might be capable, but unproven.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:38 am
Pete – I presume this is the ranking for non MP candidates.
March 14th, 2011 at 9:47 am
So the Pacific Liarbore party members have got the shits. Well what do they expect, the left see these people as the useful idiots Sadly many pacific people honestly believe in these charlatans, once every three years they get to hear how the left fights for the little man. Been rather naive they lap this sort of crap up,much to the delight of party officials who then after their votes have been cast turn them into cows to be milked for their union fees.
March 14th, 2011 at 10:06 am
Let me get this right…in their top 13 they have Phil Goff’s electorate chair, michael Wood, fresh from his spanking Botany. Phil Goff’s press secretary Deb Mahuta and the wife of Phil Goff’s communications manager Josie Pagani.
Does Labour have a recruitment problem?
March 14th, 2011 at 10:07 am
I can only laugh at the disarray the socialists are in. Long it may continue.
March 14th, 2011 at 10:28 am
Deb Mahuta was a good Bar Tender at Uni, but other than that i don’t think she has any private experience.
How can you have any more than a blinkered view of the world when you have a politics degree, then work for politicians, after coming from a politicised background.
One day you need to step outside and see hwo the world actually makes money, and its not from politicians (other than graft and cronyism).
March 14th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Its cold and harsh outside the ivory tower and reality isn’t responsive to the theories of social engineering dreamers Grendel.
Don’t count on anyone getting out from behind their comfy desk this week.
March 14th, 2011 at 11:01 am
@big bruv:
Of course I respect your right to have opinions about these people, but do you know anything about them? You label all of them career troughers, but for instance, what do you know about Jordan Carter to back this up?
March 14th, 2011 at 11:21 am
“what do you know about Jordan Carter to back this up?”
Enough to know that he thinks being in business is “evil” (not the exact quote but it is close)
To the best of my knowledge the guy has never had a real job in his life, he is, and remains, a serial trougher,
[DPF: To be fair to Jordan, that was a quote from him at 19.]
March 14th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Just thinking about the idea of Kate Sutton as Education Minister, makes me nauous
March 14th, 2011 at 11:41 am
@big bruv:
I understand that Jordan has a rel job. He is policy director of Internet NZ. I don’t know what your criteria is for a job to be `real’. Perhaps currency speculation is more real to you? If so, please explain.
March 14th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Big Bruv: Of course, under the good old FPP days there were no unionists troughers in the Labour Party. In fact all MPs were enlightened, hard-working people with private sector business experience who all supported wise policies for NZ, but could not implement them because of … um… the CIA. Is this right?
March 14th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
I though Jordan Carter was the lefts blue eyed boy
March 15th, 2011 at 1:25 am
DT – it sounds like you are an apologist for Mr Carter, a long time Labour activist who has written some quite dreadful statements about income redistribution, supporting politicising Parliamentary Services and has written about the need for a workers paradise.
The fact that DT isn’t making such a song and dance about supporting comrade Kate Sutton speaks volumes!
March 16th, 2011 at 12:03 am
@Clint Heine.
I only know what I now about Mr Carter, and I plucked him as an example. I understand that he is a hard working employee of the (non public body) Internet NZ. He may have written things in the past. Who cares? Farrar himself was once arrested for some outrageous politicking in his youth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farrar_(New_Zealand)). I am not going to be too outraged about that. My point is that bigbruva claims that none of these folk have real jobs, but it seems to me that Mr Carter does have one. Trying to invalidate that by referring to youthful indescretions is dumb. Do you want me to start on Bill English? Its just pointless. Carter is a productive member of society. That is the point. Who cares what he said as a young man?
March 16th, 2011 at 12:05 am
I will raise your 5 aices with my 12 clubs.
March 16th, 2011 at 3:24 am
Jordan Carter is as useful to New Zealanders in Parliament as you do as minister for education