March 8, 2007
Media Release

Rate rise further justifies pay rises - EPMU

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union says today’s rise in the official cash rate just makes the need to increase wages more urgent.

Today’s 0.25% rise is expected to push interest rates up and flow through to the housing market.

EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little says the rise will make life harder for working New Zealanders.

“All this rise will do is raise interest rates and make it harder for Kiwi workers to afford decent homes. As far as we’re concerned the only way to offset these losses is through higher wages.

“When we launched our FairShare ’07 campaign last month we pointed to the way increases in the cost of housing were outstripping increases in wages. This rise does nothing to change that fact.

“Increasing the rate is only going to make it even more profitable for foreign money to be invested in Kiwi debt and that’s not going to stop until we start saving more, but saving isn’t easy without a decent wage.”

As part of its FairShare campaign The EPMU is making employer contributions to KiwiSaver a key claim in every one of the union’s negotiations.

ENDS

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