“The ACT Party has today released a range of measures the Government should take to help take the pressure off businesses and the hospitality sector,” says ACT’s Small Business spokesperson Chris Baillie.

“The Resurgence payment should be available every week that a business is under Alert Level 4 or 3, and extend to Alert Level 2 for hospitality businesses.

“Having a limit of 50 people in a cafe or restaurant is devastating for these businesses, they will likely lose more money than if they were to stay closed.

“If the Government insists on these strict rules, with no end date in sight, it has a duty to help these businesses so they can stay afloat and continue to employ people.

“ACT is also campaigning for the Government to ease pressure on businesses by:

•Swapping Matariki with one of the other 11 statutory holidays. Introducing an additional stat holiday at this time is just another blow for businesses when they can least afford it.

•Ditching the Parent/Teacher Leave Bill. This Bill again just piles on more costs to businesses.

•A moratorium on minimum wage increases. It’s simply unaffordable and businesses need certainty now more than ever. Productive employee wages will still increase.

•Stopping the so-called Fair Pay Agreements. The proposal would lead to a return to compulsory unionism, there is already a comprehensive array of statutory protections for workers.

“Businesses have never been under more pressure. This Government has done everything it can to make life more difficult for businesses. It’s time it listened to the plight of businesses owners and gave them the relief they desperately need.”

Our petition to reject compulsory unionism can be found here.

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