Sharing the benefits of economic growth

David Cunliffe’s signal that a new government will have a plan for our industries and ensure that the benefits of economic growth will be better shared is welcome news for workers, FIRST Union said today.

David Cunliffe today set out Labour’s broad agenda for the economy at a speech in Auckland.

“Any economic recovery must not continue to concentrate wealth at the top of the pile. We need a plan to boost workers’ incomes and create and retain good jobs as well as dedicated economic development plans for our industries,” FIRST Union General Secretary Robert Reid said.

“While the figures for some primary production sector manufacturing are improving, other sectors are going backwards. There is no overall plan for manufacturing for New Zealand. Such a plan must include a meaningful government programme around procurement.”

“Wood processing is a classic example of an industry that needs to be firing up to meet the needs of the Canterbury rebuild and government house building programmes.

“Instead the industry is laying off workers and two major processors have fallen into receivership in the past six months.”

“Exporters of raw logs are making good money, but New Zealand is not fully capitalising on the processing side of one of our largest industries – forestry. New Zealanders deserve a more ambitious strategy for our economic development than simply being exporters of unprocessed or marginally processed primary products.”

“Workers need to be at the heart of our economy not an afterthought, but National has run the economy for a privileged few,” Robert Reid said.

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