New landmark agreement closes Aussie wage gap

New landmark agreement closes Aussie wage gap

New Zealand's largest private sector union says its new landmark oil & gas collective agreement providing for Australian rates of pay in New Zealand shows that real improvements in wages won't come from fiddling around with the tax system.

Under the new agreement oil rig workers’ wages will be paid in NZ dollars to all New Zealand residents who are members of the Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union (EPMU).

This week's Budget looks set to make tax changes that will give most workers a maximum of about $6 a week extra.

“In a week when there will be a national discussion on tax, with one of the Government’s selling points for the tax changes the fact that it will leave a very small amount extra in most people's pockets, this agreement shows that the real issue about incomes is the level of wages,” says Andrew Little, EPMU National Secretary.
“Fiddling around with the tax system will never fix the problems we've got with wages,” he says.

“This agreement was made possible by the level of co-operation between the EPMU and Australian unions, a highly mobile workforce and an industry with high margins which can afford good wage levels. I expect it will put pressure on wages elsewhere in the industry, in Taranaki, and eventually other parts of New Zealand”.
“This is the sort of thing that we need to keep Kiwi workers here rather than having to head overseas to chase better rates of pay.”

“We need to move away from the sterile debate about tax changes as a way to increase incomes and focus on the link between profitable companies and good pay rates, and that link is the wage bargaining system, not taxes or vacuous claims to productivity improvement.”

ENDS

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