CTU MEDIA RELEASE
20 February 2008
National needs to come clean on wages
“John Key and National need to front up with some consistency on wages, after comments reported yesterday about his
desire for wages to drop,” said Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly.
Yesterday’s reported comments from John Key to a business audience in Northland in December were revealing, where he
said he would love to see wages drop.
“The CTU knows that wages need to go up, and we have a plan on how to do it.”
“Everyone agrees with the need to close with wage gap with Australia, but leaving it to taxes alone is a joke.”
“Will National support regular increases in the minimum wage to lift people out of poverty wages, or freeze it like they
did last time when it was increased by less than a dollar over 9 years?”
"Will they support strengthening collective bargaining provisions in employment law so that low wages can be addressed
at an industry level by workers and employers, or remove collective bargaining rights like they did last time which saw
wages drop dramatically?”
"National needs to come clean on their intentions for wages in New Zealand. The best way to put more money into workers’
pockets is through decent wages, and National’s tax cuts favouring the rich ignore the needs of working people," Helen
Kelly said.
Ends.