Minister for Enterprise and Commerce, Max Bradford, today rejected claims by the Engineers Union that jobs created by the Employment Contracts Act are predominantly casual, part-time and low-paid.

"The ECA is the most successful piece of industrial relations legislation in New Zealand's history and attempts by the Secretary of the Engineers Union, to brand it as a failure are laughable", said Mr Bradford.

"The success of the ECA sticks in the throat of Unions, because it has delivered what they couldn't: more jobs and higher wages.
The facts speak for themselves. Since 1991:

 278,000 jobs have been created. Over 60% of these have been full-time;

 48% of the jobs were in highly skilled occupations;

 real wages have gone up by nearly 1% a year; and

 industrial disputes have fallen to their lowest level since 1935.

"The Union also seems to be implying that there is something negative about part-time work. However, this is often a valuable source of income for groups such as women with children, students and older people who want to maintain some workforce attachment. Studies show that less than 7% of part-timers want to work full-time.

"The Union should get on with its role of protecting worker's interests, rather than looking after its own interests by using flimsy facts to support the Labour Party –line," Mr Bradford said.

© Scoop Media