Trade unionists learn something vital about Fiji – it doesn’t have a democratic government

So who coughed up the money to teach trade union leaders something the rest of us already knew?

The lesson is that Fiji is not a democracy.

Alf knew that without having to get on a plane and fly there.

But Helen Kelly, president of the CTU, flew there with a bunch of Aussies to find out the hard way, presuambly with tickets paid for by hard-working union members.

The harpies get their trophy but who, if anyone, has got the facts about the cause of the gender gap?

Who's next?

The harpies have triumphed.

More dismaying, those of them who would be outraged if a worker was dismissed for what he or she said – no matter how provocative the remarks – are crowing about the sacking of Employers and Manufacturers’ Association (Northern) chief executive Alasdair Thompson.

Their unseemly baying for blood reminds Alf of the hags who cackled their approval as the guillotine blade fell in the days of the French Revolution.

Alasdair may well be gone by lunch time – but on what date will the axe fall?

Oops, sorry - we thought it was him.

Alasdair Thompson, chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern), has lived to fight another day.

An emergency board meeting to discuss his future today has been cancelled.

Not postponed. Cancelled.

This explains why Thompson – so far as we know – was not gone by lunch time.

But it looks unlikely he can hold on for long. The baying for blood is coming from a pack of formidable proportions.

Let’s extend the 90-day trial period to politicians before they can become entrenched as troughers

The Government is about to do employers a big favour, with its plans to extend the 90-day trial period for hiring staff.

The trial period allows the boss to fire a new worker within the first three months of hiring him or her, without the fired worker – or drone, more like it – having the right to take one of those bloody vexing and costly personal grievance cases.

The idea, as Alf understands it, is to extend the scheme to companies with more than 20 workers, as part of a package of workplace law reforms.

Obviously this will ease the way for bosses to get rid of any recently hired staffer who turns out to be a drone, a pain in the arse, a trouble-maker, or whatever.

The percentage of such people – by the way – is much greater than Alf had previously understood.

More jobs, please – oh, and can we can get a bigger pay packet, too?

Talk about wanting a bob each way (preferably without having to work for it).

The trade unions that have been hollering for a hefty hike in the minimum wage are now demanding the Government create new jobs.

Labour similarly wants a higher minimum wage and more jobs.

The pressure for more jobs followed the disappointing news that the unemployment rate had risen to 7.3% in the December quarter.

Gender benders have their PEE cut off

Lots of shrieking and wailing has been heard in recent days, and desperate lefties have dragged the long-departed Kate Sheppard into an equal-pay furore in a bizarre attempt to shame the government.

Words like “tragedy” have been thrown into the furore, too, although – so far as Alf knows – no-one had been killed.

Actually, nothing has happened except the Government decided to abolish the Department of Labour’s Pay and Employment Equity Unit (at least one report abbreviated it to PEE, much to Alf’s delight).

Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly howled that the decision to shut down PEE shows “an absolute disregard for the thousands of women workers in this country whose work is undervalued simply because they are women.”