Maori Party Fire at Will Bill stance Acknowledged

Thursday, 11 December 2008, 9:28 am
Press Release: Council of Trade Unions

CTU MEDIA RELEASE

10 December 2008

Union Runanga acknowledges Maori Party stance on Fire at Will Bill

The Runanga o Nga Kaimahi Maori – CTU Runanga says there so many wrongs with rushing through the Fire at Will Bill, and acknowledges the Maori Party’s continued opposition to it.

“With rising unemployment the first peoples to become unemployed will be the unskilled and low waged. Maori will be a majority peoples in this group,” CTU vice president Maori Sharon Clair said.

“The Runanga agrees with the Maori Party that Maori unemployment is still too high. And we acknowledge their affirmation that taking away the rights of marginalised workers is not a path to better employment outcomes.”

“The removal of human rights to any group at any time is never acceptable or justified,” Sharon Clair said.

“He aha te mea nui o te ao? He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata. This wise council from our Tupuna does not say that the most important of all things in the world is wealth, individualism and power, it says simply and wisely the most important of all things in the world is people. Workers are an asset, not an article of trade,” Sharon Clair said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

Te Kauae Kaimahi

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi brings together over 350,000 New Zealand union members in 40 affiliated unions. We are the united voice for working people and their families in New Zealand.

Contact New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

• Website - union.org.nz/
• Media Contact - communications@nzctu.org.nz
• Phone - +64 4 385 1334
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter - @togetherunionnz
• Physical Address - Level 3, 79 Boulcott Street, Wellington.
• Postal Address - PO Box 6645, Marion Square, Wellington 6141.