-
Phil Goff - Source: Q+A -
Related
What Labour is proposing:
- $15/hour minimum wage
- Repeal National's 90-day law
- 'Mondayise' public holidays
Labour has released its work and wages policy, with a raft of changes designed to target low-income earners.
Among the proposals are raising the minimum wage to $5, scrapping the 90-day law, and to 'Monday-ise' public holidays, ensuring 11 days of public holidays each year.
And if elected the party will also introduce industry standard agreements, allowing unions to negotiate minumum pay and condition levels across certain sectors - for all employees.
It's hoped wages would rise as a result, making unions look inviting to non-members.
At the launch today in Hamilton, leader Phil Goff said the policies will close the wage gap with Australia, and provide New Zealanders with a decent living wage to stop them from falling further behind.
"Growing numbers of Kiwis are struggling to make ends meet and see no end in sight as this government concentrates its effort on the already well-off at the expense of the rest," said Goff.
"The vast majority of Kiwis are worse off now than they were three years ago with Statistics NZ indicating last week that inflation rose by 9% and incomes increased by only 2.5% in that period."
Spokesperson on Labour Issues Darien Fenton says Labour wants to draw up a new framework so that better pay and standards can be extended through Industry Standard Agreements, with the introduction of industry-specific 'floor' or 'floors' for wages.
Small businesses would also have flexibility in adapting to the new standards says Fenton, with a commission set up that would be able to take the potential impact on small businesses and employment into account during its deliberations.
But critics say the proposals would lead to problems for employers and ultimately job losses.
For employers with 10 fulltime workers on the lowest rate, the change would add more than $40,000 to the wage bill.
"Those young and those at the margins of the work force will tend to be excluded from the work force," says BusinessNZ Chief Executive Phil O'Reilly.
Labour's proposals also follow on from high profile protests against the 90-day right-to-fire law, and protests against the so-called Hobbit Law which prevents those in the film industry from bargaining as a group.
"It would just be another step that would gum up a job market that in the last few years has proven to be pretty flexible and adaptable," said Finance Minister Bill English.
Unions welcome policy
Labour's proposals have been welcomed by the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU), with SWFU national secretary John Ryall saying the changes would go a long way to help struggling working families on low pay.
"The promised increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour is urgently needed for many of our members who are on the very lowest pay rates."
Ryall says Labour's other proposed reforms would lift wages to acceptable levels.
"We have many examples amongst our membership where those with collective agreements do much better in terms of pay and conditions than those on individual agreements," he said.
"Although they do essential work providing caring, cleaning and other support services for all New Zealanders, our members are at the bottom of the heap where one dollar an hour can make the difference to putting food on the table and paying a power bill.
