Minimum Logic to Minimum Wage Change

With the stroke of a pen, the Government has locked thousands of young New Zealanders out of employment by denying them choice and freedom of contract, ACT New Zealand Commerce Spokesman Deborah Coddington said today.

“Raising the minimum wage for 18 and 16-year-olds will guarantee only one thing – more youth will be barred from entering the work force.

“It is no surprise the CTU welcomes this move, because they don’t care about the unemployed. They only care about featherbedding their own interests.

“When my daughter sweeps the floor of a hairdressing salon after school and on Saturdays, why shouldn’t she be able to negotiate her own rate of pay?

“If she can’t negotiate a satisfactory rate, there are plenty of other salons, dairies, supermarkets - all sorts of businesses – eager to employ energetic, money-hungry teenagers.

“But this neo-socialist Government thinks it knows better. These neo-socialists in power – who no longer have to own the means of production, distribution and exchange because they regulate to control it anyway – believe individuals are incapable of making decisions for themselves.

“ACT New Zealand has enormous trust in the power of individuals – from the age of 16 to 116 – to determine what is best for themselves and their own futures. The state should be there to protect their interests when their rights are breached. But the state has no business interfering in what is voluntarily agreed between consenting adults,” Miss Coddington said.

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