Govt removes engine and wheels from job machine
Government removes engine and wheels from its self-styled ‘jobs machine’
The Government has today ripped out the engine and removed the wheels from its self styled ‘jobs-machine’, Opposition Industrial Relations spokesperson Max Bradford said.
Mr Bradford was commenting on the introduction of the Employment Relations Bill.
“What makes the Government think that going back to the union dominated, strike ridden days of the 1970s will help employees and New Zealand?
“The way the Bill stacks up it will destroy jobs not create them.
“New Zealand has made a lot of progress in the last 15 years to create an environment that promotes innovation and enterprise. The Government has just slammed the door on that with this Bill.
“Why go backwards when the facts speak for themselves.”
313,000 more jobs today than before
the Employment Contracts Act took effect. That compares to
about 60,000 jobs lost during Labour’s last period in
government.
218,000 (or 70%) of the new jobs
created under the Employment Contracts Act are fulltime.
a more than 9% increase in real average weekly
earnings, between August 1991 and August 1999, rising from
$605.34 to $661.22.
That compares with just a 2% rise
from August 1984.
Under Labour there was on
average 560,000 worker days lost in strikes each year. Under
National it had got down to just 12,000 hours lost.
“The Government seems to have a penchant for putting faith in institutions that have failed us in the past such as ACC and unions. We’ll all end up paying the price. Whatever the nice fuzzy feelings spoken in the Bill we have to reach behind the words and look at the impact in practice and in the workplace.”
Ends