When Minister for Employment Iain Lees-Galloway told ONE News just over two weeks ago that the government would repeal the Hobbit Law, all hell let loose. The Hobbit Law prevents screen industry workers from unionising by making all film workers contractors not employees, thereby preventing collective bargaining. To understand why the Hobbit Law was forced […]
8th November 2017 A core group of organisations representing those involved in the screen industry met on Friday (3 November 2017) following recent media regarding the Government’s proposed repeal of the Employment Relations (Film Production Workers) Amendment Act 2010 (colloquially known as the ‘Hobbit Law’). The discussion was positive and the organisations agreed to work […]
Last newsletter I postulated about what might and might not occur in regard to the screen industry once the portfolios were assigned. Little did I know it would be referenced in the Hollywood Reporter here. I was wrong about Grant Robertson getting the Arts portfolio but happily so as Jacinda kept it. My suggestion that […]
For Immediate Release Monday 30 October 2017 The Directors & Editors Guild of NZ (DEGNZ) welcomes the opportunity to collectively bargain on behalf of its membership in the event that the new Government repeal the controversial ‘Hobbit Law’, an amendment rushed through Parliament that classified all film workers as ‘independent contractors’, unable to bargain collectively […]
Like most everyone else, I’ve been walking around with a smile on my face since Winston Peters decided which side of the seesaw to get on. I’m not as rabidly dogmatic as many left of centre seem to be in the screen industry, but I do know that the social fabric of New Zealand society […]