Category: Media releases

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

Stand Up, the youth union movement, today commemorated the Government’s 90th day in power by using its own new employment policy, the 90-day trial period, to issue Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with a termination letter outlining how his Government has failed to meet the expectations of young workers.

“We wanted make sure the Prime Minister knows that young workers won’t take these attacks lying down,” said Stand Up Co-convenor Justine Sachs.
 
“The reintroduction of 90-day trials to all businesses creates uncertainty for workers starting out a new job, with no real evidence that these carry the labour market benefits the Government has claimed they do.
 
“It’s gone from bad to worse, with the recent decision to cut the minimum wage in real terms, ensuring that those struggling to make ends meet fall further behind in a cost-of-living crisis,” said Sachs.
 
“The beauty of 90-day trials, according to Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden back in December when reintroducing them, was their ability to help a business “find the right fit” in a worker. As young workers, we just don’t think this Government is the right fit to steer us through a cost of living and climate crisis,” said Stand Up Co-convenor, Dr Zoë Port.
 
“Our expectations were already low – but the reality that younger workers are now faced with is even bleaker than we imagined. We’re watching workers rights’ being stripped away, using brute force, under parliamentary urgency.
 
“If the Government is so confident, why not let their decisions, like the decision to reintroduce 90-day trials for all businesses, stand up to normal democratic scrutiny via select committee? I say the answer is simple – because they’re not up to the job,” said Port.

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The NZ Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi is calling on Government to regulate greater protections for migrant workers including decoupling work visas from single employers, and for a comprehensive review into the policy settings of the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV).

This follows the release of the review into Immigration New Zealand’s administration of the AEWV scheme, which found that the scheme did not work as intended and that INZ could have done more to minimise the risk of abuse. It found that “MBIE do not appear to have a methodology or approach through which they regularly are able to calibrate the extent or nature of migrant exploitation”.

“The Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme has enabled systemic and widespread exploitation of migrant workers in Aotearoa New Zealand,” said CTU President Richard Wagstaff.

“We have seen case after case of migrant workers having their human rights violated and being used as a source of cheap labour for unscrupulous employers.

“Work visas shouldn’t enable the exploitation of migrant workers. Government must ensure that migrant workers are protected. Decoupling work visas from single employers, and allowing them to work with work with other accredited firms would be a great place to start.

“There needs to be a wider review of the AEWV scheme that looks at the policy settings and the extent of the exploitation of migrant workers in those industries using the scheme, rather than just the administration of the scheme.

“Migrant workers must be afforded with the same fundamental rights and conditions as all workers in New Zealand and should be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve,” said Wagstaff.

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on the Government to take action on poverty and the cost of living, in response to new data released today showing an increase in child poverty rates.

The number of children living in poverty increased on all the measurements undertaken by Stats NZ, disproportionately impacting Māori, Pasifika and disabled children.

“It is intolerable that a further 23,000 children are now living without the essentials to ensure a good start in life. All families deserve to have incomes that enable them to live with dignity,” said Wagstaff.

“We are deeply concerned that the data is very likely to get even worse given the Government’s welfare changes will take money from families on the lowest incomes in the country, with their own analysis showing that the changes will put an additional 11,000 children into poverty.

“Unemployment is forecast to rise, and the Government has cut the minimum wage in real terms, ditched Fair Pay Agreements, and created further employment insecurity for young people by extending 90-day trials.

“Not only are the Government taking decisions that will lower incomes, but they are also making the cost-of-living worse by cutting free prescriptions.

“We are calling on the Government to advance policies that lift people’s incomes and ensure that everyone has enough to pay the bills, feed their kids and keep them warm through winter,” said Wagstaff.

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The union movement is sending its love and condolences to the family of Fa’anānā Efeso Collins, said NZCTU President, Richard Wagstaff, today.

“We are heartbroken for Efeso’s whānau, friends and community,” said Wagstaff.

“This news is devastating. Efeso was a leader who had so much more to give.

“Efeso was a lovely man. He was full of warmth, grace and passion for his people. “He was always a staunch supporter and advocate of unions.

He championed workers’ issues, from the Living Wage to Fair Pay Agreements.

“We will miss him dearly,” said Wagstaff.

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The Productivity Commission report released today on the impact that redundancy has on New Zealand workers shows the need for the protection that income insurance provides, said CTU President Richard Wagstaff.

The report, using a detailed study of Aotearoa New Zealand workers involuntarily laid off, shows only 50 per cent of displaced workers find new jobs immediately after layoff and only two-thirds find new jobs within six months.

“New Zealand workers are among those with the lowest levels of redundancy protection in the world, with protection levels just below those of Paraguay and Colombia,” said Wagstaff.

“The tripartite work to address this problem through an income insurance scheme was stopped by the new Government, despite rising unemployment and the likelihood of greater supply chain disruption in the future.

“As New Zealand deals with a challenging global economy, now should be the time to give workers more income and economic security – rather than less. Social Insurance would have given workers the security that is commonplace in successful economies overseas.

“The research also showed that the “earnings of workers who find new employment take almost three years to return to pre-layoff levels”. This backs previous findings from the OECD which showed that New Zealand workers faced a much higher wage scarring than workers elsewhere in the world.

“With the Government cancelling social insurance, bringing back 90-day trials, ending Fair Pay Agreements, and cutting the minimum wage and welfare in real terms, they seemed to determined to reduce security rather than increase it,” said Wagstaff.

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

The decision to not fund the purchase of new Interislander ferries shows the Minister of Finance is out of her depth, said NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff.

“The failure to adequately fund the purchase of the new ferries is an example of this Government’s short-term thinking,” Wagstaff.

“The Minister of Finance is well out of her depth. What value for money is delivered by throwing away potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties to pay for breaking the contract? What value do New Zealanders get from buying used ferries that will need to be remodelled anyway to work in New Zealand?

“This is classic short-term thinking – the very opposite of responsible economic management. Not only will this decision cost us right now, but it undermines the economic and social resilience of the country. We will bear the cost of this ineptitude for decades to come.

“The Interislander ferry fleet is in dire need of replacement. The ferries experience regular technical problems, disrupting plans for hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders, and interrupting the flow of $14 billion worth of freight every year.

“These new ferries would have upgraded our ability to move that freight via rail, a capacity that will be lost under Nationals new plan. It hurts our ability to deliver on our climate goals and reduces the resilience of our already strained transport network.

“The new ferries that the Government had ordered from Hyundai would have secured this crucial transport link for decades to come and increased the flow of goods and does so with a lower emissions profile. Instead of building Aotearoa up, It is telling that this Government places little value on the key connections between our island nation.

“This kind of infrastructure is essential if we are to modernise and grow the economy over the coming years. This Government has talked a lot about getting the economy back on track, yet it is axing a vital piece of infrastructure that would deliver this.

“The Government has claimed that the upgrade will cost too much. However, previous CTU’s analysis shows that, over the lifetime of the assets, the cost of upgrading the Interislander ferries is only around $11 per New Zealander a year. By contrast, the landlord tax cuts will cost Kiwis $139 each year,” said Wagstaff.  

Source: Council of Trade Unions – CTU

NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is concerned that the Government’s welfare and employment policies will make it harder for people who lose their jobs, following the release of new employment data.

The data shows that unemployment rose for the December 2023 quarter, to 4%, and the Treasury and Reserve Bank both expect it will rise to 5% by the end of this year. In real terms, that means a further 60,000 people will be unemployed, compared to 2022.

“Unemployment is always stressful, but the Government’s recent policy decisions will make things even more difficult for displaced workers,” said Wagstaff.

“The Government has ended work on the income insurance scheme, which would have provided displaced workers with up to seven months of financial support after losing their job, at 80% of their salary or wages. This would have helped to reduce the high rate of wage scarring – the pay cut that workers often experience as a result of losing their job – that New Zealand has compared to our OECD peers, and supported workers to upskill and retrain.

“The Government has announced its intention to introduce new sanctions for welfare recipients. But the evidence is clear that this punitive approach to welfare doesn’t work, and only serves to compound social harm and increase poverty.

“The Government has also extended 90-day trials to businesses of all sizes, meaning that many job seekers who do find work will feel insecure in their employment for the first three months. As with their other policy decisions, there is no evidence that 90-day trials increase employment.

“Instead of helping people through the cost-of-living crisis, the Government’s policies are further reducing employment security, and increasing poverty,” said Wagstaff.