Government removes engine and wheels from its self-styled ‘jobs machine’
The Government has today ripped out the engine and removed the wheels from its self styled ‘jobs-machine’, Opposition
Industrial Relations spokesperson Max Bradford said.
Mr Bradford was commenting on the introduction of the Employment Relations Bill.
“What makes the Government think that going back to the union dominated, strike ridden days of the 1970s will help
employees and New Zealand?
“The way the Bill stacks up it will destroy jobs not create them.
“New Zealand has made a lot of progress in the last 15 years to create an environment that promotes innovation and
enterprise. The Government has just slammed the door on that with this Bill.
“Why go backwards when the facts speak for themselves.”
313,000 more jobs today than before the Employment Contracts Act took effect. That compares to about 60,000 jobs lost
during Labour’s last period in government.
218,000 (or 70%) of the new jobs created under the Employment Contracts Act are fulltime.
a more than 9% increase in real average weekly earnings, between August 1991 and August 1999, rising from $605.34 to
$661.22.
That compares with just a 2% rise from August 1984.
Under Labour there was on average 560,000 worker days lost in strikes each year. Under National it had got down to
just 12,000 hours lost.
“The Government seems to have a penchant for putting faith in institutions that have failed us in the past such as ACC
and unions. We’ll all end up paying the price. Whatever the nice fuzzy feelings spoken in the Bill we have to reach
behind the words and look at the impact in practice and in the workplace.”
Ends