Election Campaign

Download the Council of Trade Unions' 2008 Election Policy Statement.

Election Policy Statement  - Summary (6 pages)

August 2008

Comment

There is now widespread recognition that wages need to rise in New Zealand. The CTU has identified a number of measures that are needed to lift wages on a sustainable basis. These include: increasing the minimum wage to two-thirds of the average wage; amending employment law to strengthen collective bargaining particularly in relation to promoting industry and multi-employer base documents; greater support (including institutional forms) for union capacity to deliver improved wages for workers; the implementation of good employer and responsible contractor policies in the State sector, and an ongoing programme to deliver for women equal pay for work of equal value. We also support higher wages through more investment in skills, plant, machinery and technology alongside improved workplace practices to boost productivity.

These measures will help address the structural issues that underpin embedded low wages. In the short run however the pressure on the pay packet has been made worse by high food and petrol prices.

June 2008

Comment

Times are hard. It is likely that when the June quarter economic growth figures come out on 26th September, it will confirm that the economy has been in a technical recession through the first half of 2008. We are halfway there with the news that the economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the March quarter. The Bank of New Zealand has warned that the length of the adjustment process threatens to be longer than the 1998 downturn.

May 2008

Comment

Budget 2008 showed that relatively modest tax cuts nevertheless use up a large amount of money. The annual average cost of the tax cuts is $2.7 billion. John Key had been quoted prior to the Budget as saying that National would have bigger tax cuts. Last October I commented in this Bulletin that for the National Party it seemed that no matter what the question is - the answer is always tax cuts. That stance seemed to wilt somewhat within hours of last week's budget. But - a bidding war on tax cuts is still possible - and carries some real risks.

The CTU submits annually to the Department of Labour on the review of the minimum wage.Download the CTU's submission from October 2007, as a word document or PDF below.  The introduction and executive summary are also below on this page.

Submission to the Justice and Electoral Select Committe, September 2007

Download a full copy of the submission here as a PDF document (96k) or here as a word document (224 kb).