Well Done Shon Key

[guest49]

More small provincial clothing manufacturers are battling to survive after the Government slashed their contracts, sending the work to China.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4861599a13.html

[Crusader]

You are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't.
On one hand he has saved the tax payer a heap of money in a time of cutting back and on the other hand he has condemned a local business.
Oh by the way this is how you spell John. (Using the new spell checker could have saved you a bit of hassle).

[Ferney]

Some people can't read.   Made in China labels and not just on clothing are not something new in NZ.   

[Newtown-Fella]

can someone please explain how the Govt cut any contracts ?

usually contracts are between two players ...

the person wanting the item and the person who makes the item

in the clothing row its the Defence Dept deciding that of all the people capable of making what the Defence dept wants the Chinese are the better and cheaper option ...

now where in that picture does John Key and his Govt factor ?

iare John Key and his Govt now negotiating ALL contracts for supply for the Defence Force and anyone else who wants to trade with China ?

[guest49]

Shon Key is now sitting at the desk where the buck stops.

[Crusader]

Helen Clark and Micheal Cullen let this country's finances rot. Because of this John has told all state sectors they will not be getting any extra funding for a while so they have to manage with existing funding. If the Defence Force can reduce costs in clothing manufacturing then what is the problem??? They are here to protect this country not prop up local business's.

[guest49]

Quite.
So it makes sense to you, to employ workers in a far country and in consequence put workers here on to welfare.
for some reason, I just cant see the sense in that.

[Newtown-Fella]

Yak answer me this ....

NZ is an Exporter of many things

we export things that are also made in the country we are exporting too

should we stop exporting them and walk away from the trade agreements we have with those countries as well ?

[donquixotenz]

there is a big difference between the junk we import made with peon labour and the quality product we export. And where is the fairness when we import more than we export?

Jonkey was this morning on about jobs surely we would employ more people if we imported the raw materials.
At the moment the trend is we do not make and add value by processing them here with Kiwi labour. Even if wages were subsidised it would be cheaper than paying the dole and the cost of job creation and further job training for the displaced unable to get employment as all the manufactered goods are made overseas or imported.
Think about the industries we had 15 years ago and look at today.......to reclaim them now will cost big bikkie but if they had have been somewhat protected they would have been able to keep up with the state of the art and possibly even inovated with Kiwi Innate inguenity.
We have had our heads stuck up our arses by the business fraternity and self interested politicians who abhore innivation and adore profit.

Much of what we export is of premium quality and in demand and gets good prices and if we lost a few deals with protected markets a little hoof work and product targeting to find alternative market would go a long way to making up for what we lose especially if we add more value at this end and controlled over production in markets that were highly competitive.
A Managed ecconomy with tarrifs and subsidies and not the lassair Faire clusterfuck we have at the moment.

[Calliope]

what everyone seems to be missing here is that the defence contract was with an Aussie firm. That firm in turn, outsourced the work. The New Zealand company got the contract. However, the Aussie firm now want to increase their profit so they have outsourced the work to china. The defence force contract with the Aussies still has one year to run. You can be sure that the Defence force are not making any savings from this. Instead it is the Aussie firm which is increasing their profit at the cost of workers in New Zealand.

[Ferney]

They chose to ignore the facts Calliope.   

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Welfare payments to workers thrown on the scrap heap in NZ are many, many times greater than the difference in cost between NZ-made and Chinese-made clothes.....and that doesn't even begin to look at the social costs; the eventual costs of yet another generation of underclass people (to add to the already existing multi-generational underclass remaining from the days of the scumbag, traitorous 4th Labour and 4th National governments); more crime, more jails, more people whinging about the crime AND the cost of building new jails; the resultant rise of more idiots like Garth McVicar who feed on the inevitable results of the late-1980s/early-1990s (and what is happening NOW)....AND....I guess being well on the way to reaching the ultimate goal of both Labour AND National of becoming the Champions of the World in having the highest proportion of our population banged up in the slammer!

Comprendé ??

[donquixotenz]

Welfare payments to workers thrown on the scrap heap in NZ are many, many times greater than the difference in cost between NZ-made and Chinese-made clothes.....and that doesn't even begin to look at the social costs; the eventual costs of yet another generation of underclass people (to add to the already existing multi-generational underclass

eggzakly my point ktj

[Ferney]

When the clothing industry started manufacturing offshore 20 years ago,  where was the Kiwi protest ?   
Where was the concern for the workers made redundant ? 
You were down at the shops buying cheap 'made in China'   
   

[Calliope]

Of course I understand. However, it is not the Defence Force who are to blame, nor is it the Government. The contract with the Aussies, which still has one year to run, is the problem. Now everyone was happy with the arrangement while the Aussies outsourced to a New Zealand company, and I understand why people are upset about the change, but there is nothing the Defence Force can do until the current contract expires. Unless of course they want to pay penalties for breaking the contract.
It is unfortunate that people in New Zealand may lose their jobs as a result. But if anyone is to blame it is the Aussie Company who want to increase their profits.

Please be realistic bout this

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Get ready to pay higher taxes (or accept longer waiting lists for health care) to pay for increased welfare payments; more jails to lock up the new underclass; more burglaries, robberies, murders of those you know, carried out by the new underclass; the resultant rise of yet more idiots like Garth McVicar....♪♫♪ HAPPY TIMES ARE HERE AGAIN!! ♫♪♫

[ssweetpea]

Let's have a closer look at the result of not importing cheap clothing.

People would buy less clothing but they would still buy clothing.
The number of jobs availible in clothing manufactor would increase.
Those who couldn't afford to clothe themselves and their families adiquately would buy second hand or make their own.
Making your own clothing would become cost effective - like it once was.
A decrease in the number of clothing retailers would be off set by an increase in fabric shops and sewmachine sellers as sewing machines and knowing how to use one again become essential household skills.

of course then this will roll on to the demand for cloth which again is currently imported.

[guest49]

Of course I understand. However, it is not the Defence Force who are to blame, nor is it the Government. The contract with the Aussies, which still has one year to run, is the problem. Now everyone was happy with the arrangement while the Aussies outsourced to a New Zealand company, and I understand why people are upset about the change, but there is nothing the Defence Force can do until the current contract expires. Unless of course they want to pay penalties for breaking the contract.
It is unfortunate that people in New Zealand may lose their jobs as a result. But if anyone is to blame it is the Aussie Company who want to increase their profits.

Please be realistic bout this


I made that point yesterday, but the government have, of course, the power to cancel the contract - admittedly at a cost.
Whether the cost is worth preventing the social and financial disaster that contract is about to inflict, is something Shon and his key players must weigh up.  They also have to consider the idealogical cost to themselves if they decide to defend New Zealand workers at the expense of Chinese.