20 June 2002

New Zealand business should be alarmed at the latest Helen Clark and Margaret Wilson plan to "transform" the economy, says National's Finance spokesperson David Carter.

"A Cabinet committee is today considering a paper on pay equity. The plan is to set up a bureaucracy which will set wage levels for various industries.

"We recognise there are issues concerning equity in the workplace, but legislating to force equity on the labour market is not the answer.

"National supports equal pay for equal work, but businesses in New Zealand don't need a faceless bureaucrat in Wellington determining that cafeteria workers do the same work as builders, and therefore should be paid the same.

"The next thing will be employers having to meet quotas or targets based on gender.

"New Zealand women would be made to feel like second-class citizens by having quotas imposed on them.

"National believes that employment should simply be on the basis of the best person for the job. Employers and employees need to be free to determine pay and conditions, not have these imposed on them by some bureaucrat in Wellington," says Mr Carter.

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