National needs to come clean on wages

Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 12:12 am
Press Release: NZCTU

CTU MEDIA RELEASE

20 February 2008

National needs to come clean on wages

“John Key and National need to front up with some consistency on wages, after comments reported yesterday about his desire for wages to drop,” said Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly.

Yesterday’s reported comments from John Key to a business audience in Northland in December were revealing, where he said he would love to see wages drop.

“The CTU knows that wages need to go up, and we have a plan on how to do it.”

“Everyone agrees with the need to close with wage gap with Australia, but leaving it to taxes alone is a joke.”

“Will National support regular increases in the minimum wage to lift people out of poverty wages, or freeze it like they did last time when it was increased by less than a dollar over 9 years?”

"Will they support strengthening collective bargaining provisions in employment law so that low wages can be addressed at an industry level by workers and employers, or remove collective bargaining rights like they did last time which saw wages drop dramatically?”

"National needs to come clean on their intentions for wages in New Zealand. The best way to put more money into workers’ pockets is through decent wages, and National’s tax cuts favouring the rich ignore the needs of working people," Helen Kelly said.

Ends.

© Scoop Media

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

Te Kauae Kaimahi

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi brings together over 350,000 New Zealand union members in 40 affiliated unions. We are the united voice for working people and their families in New Zealand.

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