Category: Council Of Trade Unions

Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Working for a better future of work

I finish ten wonderful years as CTU Policy Director and Economist at the end of the year. In the new year I’ll be working part time for the CTU on the ‘Future of Work’. So it is a good time to look at what the Government is doing in this space.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: CTU releases agenda to achieve a just transition

The Council of Trade Unions has today set out
its agenda for climate and just transition policies for 2020 and into the new
parliamentary term after next year’s election, with the release of ten key
actions for government to pick up.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: The union pay premium, 2019

In July, the Centre for Labour, Employment and Work (CLEW) at Victoria University released their annual analysis of collective employment agreements (CEAs). It shows again that people who are part of a collective get better pay rises: the union pay premium.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Company profits rising, wage shares falling

In June, Statistics New Zealand published data from its annual Annual Enterprise Survey (AES) which shows company profits, wages and salaries paid, and many other details of companies in the commercial economy. It shows a falling share of income going to wage and salary earners, along with increasing company profits which are even stronger when capital gains (the revaluation of their assets) is included.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Fair Pay Agreements and the retail sector

Last Tuesday the CTU launched a report by economist Dr
Ganesh Nana on the evidence as to the impacts of industry (or sector)
collective bargaining. We commissioned the study to promote Fair Pay Agreements
which the Government is currently considering. Fair Pay Agreements aim to form
a floor of wages and conditions for an industry, and to advance industry
training.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Fair Pay Agreements will make working life better for all Kiwis

The Council of Trade Unions has today released an independent report conducted by economic research company BERL into the validity of sector bargaining. And the findings are clear – there is no economic reason not to implement sector bargaining but many social and individual wellbeing reasons to do so.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: The CTU Budget Report 2019

The Government describes it as a Wellbeing Budget and has taken a different approach to the way funding has been prioritised, including stating five Budget Priorities last December. We have therefore not only assessed it in the usual way by each of the main Budget areas (by ‘Vote’) but include an assessment as to what it has achieved for ‘wellbeing’.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: CTU welcomes Wellbeing Budget as a good start

The Council of Trade Unions is welcoming the
concept of a Wellbeing Budget “We certainly believe that a budget which
focuses on meaningful measures to ensure the lives of all New Zealanders are
better, is a good idea,” CTU President Richard Wagstaff said.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Finding enough revenue and the ‘Wellbeing Budget’

The Prime Minister has announced that the Government will not tax the income from capital gains while she is Prime Minister. It has therefore lost a future source of revenue at a time when needs are becoming ever more apparent, and just before its first ‘Wellbeing Budget’.

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Source: Council Of Trade Unions (CTU) – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Transforming New Zealand’s low wage economy

This commentary is an edited version of a recent speech, “Transforming New Zealand’s low wage economy”. Whether we look at international comparisons, or look at whether employees are getting a fair share of the income that their work generates, New Zealand is a low wage economy. New Zealand wages adjusted for the cost of living have fallen from middle of the 23 countries in the OECD in 1990 to 5th lowest. Part of the reason is the poor productivity performance of firms. But wages have failed to keep up with even that weak productivity growth. If real wages in the market economy had risen at the same rate as labour productivity since 1989, the average hourly wage would have been over a quarter or almost $8 higher in March last year. Similarly, we can look at the share of the nation’s total income going to wages: the labour share of income. If it was the same as in 1981, average annual wages would have been $11,800 higher in the year ending March 2018. We have among the lowest labour income shares in the OECD – 7th lowest in 2017. It is sobering that two of our largest export industries, agriculture and tourism, have among the lowest wages.

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