September 18, 2008

Political Parties: What’s your work rights policy? – EPMU

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union says in an election where the rising cost of living and the wage gap with Australia are major issues it is vital that all political parties clearly state their plans for work rights and raising New Zealanders’ wages.

The EPMU today sent its Work Rights Survey to every parliamentary party’s leader and employment spokesperson. The survey is based on the EPMU’s Work Rights Checklist, which was endorsed by 16,500 union members across 25 rallies last month.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the results of the survey will be reported back to every one of the EPMU’s 50,000 members.

“Thousands of working New Zealanders contributed to and voted unanimously on our checklist and we expect all political parties to respect the democratic mandate this document has and reply before our deadline.

“We will take the results of this survey back to our members, the members of other unions and other workers around the country when we receive them so that when they enter the polling booth they know who has their interests as working Kiwis at heart.

“Work rights are some of the most important rights New Zealanders have because they provide the legal framework that allows them to get higher wages and better conditions. They are the rights Kiwis use to put food on the table and improve their lives.”

The EPMU is New Zealand’s largest private sector union, representing 50,000 working New Zealanders across 11 industries.

For more information about the Work Rights Checklist and the survey sent to MPs visit www.workrights.org.nz or download the survey directly at http://www.workrights.org.nz/assets/Work-Rights/Work-Rights-Survey.pdf

ENDS

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