Economy buoys while wages sink

Improving economic indicators mean that the Government can look to lift incomes and reduce unemployment rather than focus on holding wages low, Green Party Employment spokesperson Sue Bradford said today.

“If the National Government is serious about lifting incomes to Australian levels then it must back away from its strategy of putting downward pressure on wages throughout the economy,” added Ms Bradford.

Figures released today suggest the economy is recovering yet signs of industrial unrest over poor wages and working conditions have become commonplace:
1. Talley’s Open Country cheese factory in the Waikato has locked out their union workers replacing them with temporary labour.
2. Bridgman Concrete in Manukau has locked out their workers last week saying they would only lift the ban on work if workers agreed to a wage freeze.
3. Auckland bus drivers were threatened with a lockout simply for trying to achieve slightly better pay and working conditions.
4. The Warehouse is running a major staff restructuring programme creating insecurity for workers and their families, despite having just increased CEO Ian Morrice's income to $3.8 million this year.
5. Telecom has made hundreds of line engineers redundant as it hands their jobs over to Visionstream, who will take contractors only.
6. Cleaners working for contractors in schools, malls, and office buildings are taking action to lift their wages from $12.55 an hour to $14.62 an hour, rather than the pitiful 25c an hour on offer.
7. In July, the Government told the country's 50,000 teachers and 20,000 nurses not to expect a pay rise over the next year.

“The Green Party supports the efforts of workers across the country in their struggle to keep jobs and achieve liveable wages and working conditions.”

Ms Bradford added, “It makes no sense for the Government to talk of an improving economy and a desire to lift incomes to Australian levels while at the same time Minsters signal to state and private sector employers to keep wages down.”

The Green Party supports lifting the minimum wage to $15 an hour immediately and will continue to back union efforts to exert collective bargaining power in the face of employer resistance to sharing the benefits of a rebounding economy.

'We also urge the Government to reconsider picking up further ideas from our proposed Green New Deal stimulus package for jobs. Our proposed investment in new state housing construction would create an additional 10,400 full-time jobs in an already depressed sector,” said Ms Bradford.