INDEPENDENT NEWS

David Cunliffe: Minimum and Living Wage Pledge

Published: Wed 9 Oct 2013 01:49 PM
David Cunliffe: Minimum Wage, living Wage Pledge
David Cunliffe's speech to the Council of Trade Unions conference in Wellington – 9 October 2013
Scoop Audio+Video+Photos
By Hamish Cardwell


Click for big version.
A fired up David Cunliffe said Labour would raise the minimum wage and was commitment to a living wage for government employees in one of his first major speeches as Labour Leader.
Speaking at a Council of Trade Unions conference in Wellington Mr Cunliffe said that if Labour won the 2014 election it would also extend paid parental leave to 26 weeks, scrap youth wage rates, and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
*******
*******
At a press standup following his speech, Mr Cunliffe said provisions for a “living wage”, initially for all government employees, would be included in their first budget subject to the “provisions of fiscal responsibility”. It would then be rolled out to crown entities and then to government contractors.
Labour would develop a a certified living wage employer scheme, and would give preference of procurement contracts to employers who signed up to the scheme.
He said raising the minimum wage to $15 dollars would come at a “relatively modest cost”.
Labour intended to extend paid parental leave out to 26 weeks and aimed to instigate this “reasonable soon into their first term” but they would need to have a look at the state of the government's books.
The youth employment rate and the “right to fire” legislation could both be gone within Labour's first 100 days of government, Me Cunliffe said.
He said people had come to him begging for there to be a change of government.
*******
Click a link to play audio (or right-click to download) in either
MP3 format or in OGG format.
*******
ENDS

Next in Comment

US Lessons For New Zealand’s Health System: Profiteering, Hospital Adverse Events And Patient Outcomes
By: Ian Powell
Israel’s Argument At The Hague: We Are Incapable Of Genocide
By: Binoy Kampmark
View as: DESKTOP | MOBILE © Scoop Media