Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
23 NOVEMBER 2016

Stop Knocking New Zealanders, Employ Kiwis Not Cheap Labour

New Zealand workers must be employed to rebuild earthquake damaged roads and buildings, not cheap migrant labour, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Recruitment and immigration companies who make big money bringing in foreign labour perpetuate the myth we don’t have the workers and labour when we do.

“A skilled structural fabricator/welder in Christchurch recently told NZ First that foreign workers in the Christchurch Rebuild were being paid ‘very low wages’ which was driving down wage rates for Kiwis.

“Poor quality work had seen large amounts of money wasted due to what he called ‘incompetence from immigrant engineers and workers just having no clue.’

“Also, we have tens of thousands young New Zealanders who are being denied opportunities.

“Statistics New Zealand revealed recently the number of unemployed rose by 1000 to 128,000 and Kiwis aged from 15 to 24 who are not in employment, training or education has now reached 74,000.

“With work requirements in the aftermath of earthquakes a concerted effort must be made to get these Kiwis into meaningful employment.

“It’s time we employed more Kiwis and tapped into the pool of young New Zealanders who were shunted aside by cheap foreign labour in the Christchurch rebuild,” Mr Peters says.

ENDS

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