An ill fated love affair

...between a vacuum cleaner and a wall board sander. Things with the sander got too hot for our little sucker.

Late nights putting the house to rights

The man whose mother was a pirate

When I was at primary school in 1988 I was lucky enough to get a part in the first school operetta  production of Margaret Mahy's book The man whose mother was a pirate. 


I remember Margaret Mahy coming to a rehearsal and giving all of us glowing encouragement as we sung our hearts out. After the rehearsal she took my script, drew a picture of a lion on the cover and wrote a note for me on it. She was a celebrity to kids and I packed that script away with all the other assorted, treasured bits of paper you collect at school. 


Like many others my age I have a stack of well thumbed Mahy books that I now read to my two kids. On hearing the sad news that she passed away earlier this week I hunted through the bits of paper I've managed to hold on to over the years looking for that play script. Sadly, I think it's long gone. But in an old file I did find this clipping below from the Christchurch Press.


These boys can more than likely grow their own beards these days!


RIP Margaret Mahy, & thanks for the memories you're still passing on. 

Iwi play broker role in employment relations dispute

The news that AFFCO and meat workers are close to resolving their differences with a new collective agreement started creeping out today.  It seems that an iwi leadership group has been a catalyst in the process. Tuku Morgan and Ken Mair among others are mentioned as playing a part between the Talleys and the Meat Workers Union.

I've not followed this dispute in detail. I'm also very green on the workings of Maoridom. But I am interested to know if this iwi group by lending their support to an employment relations issue, as a broker between deadlocked parties, is unique and something rather special.

Andrew Talley is reported on the Stuff website as saying this type of relationship is new, and it seems to have been successful.

"We have both sought to learn from this dispute and ensure that moving forward we build in the opportunity for a new type of relationship between the company, the union and its members.  We also both value the ongoing commitment from Iwi to support this relationship"  Andrew Talley said on behalf of Affco.

It is interesting for iwi to be in the role of referee in an employment relations dispute where they could have watched from the sidelines. However, the members of this iwi group have certainly been involved in a fair number of deadlocks over the years and this result, whether it comes off or not, may be seen as turning those learnings into a new role, one of real leadership for the country as a whole.

Read the joint statement made today after 78 days of the lockout here:
http://www.mwu.org.nz/2012/05/21/significant-progress-in-affco-dispute/