Media Release: National Distribution Union
Thursday May 6, 2010

Plenty more can still be done on unemployment

There is plenty more the government could be doing to bring down unemployment, says the National Distribution Union.

Statistics New Zealand’s Household Labour Force Survey has unemployment at 6.0, down from 7.1%. Maori unemployment is down, at 14.2%, while Pacific peoples unemployment increased to 14.4%.

“The drop in unemployment is certainly welcome, but our union still deals daily with both redundancies and under employment - people needing more work than is available. The figures confirm this, with 21.1 percent of people seeking more hours,” NDU General Secretary Robert Reid says.

“We supported the 9 day fortnight, and its implementation successfully saved jobs in firms like Summit Wool Spinners in Oamaru.”

“But initiatives like these have been too few, and just this week we have seen National Party defeatism on rail manufacturing jobs, and an unwillingness to support redundant workers with a modest statutory minimum entitlement.”

Robert Reid says 5 things the government could do to help get New Zealanders back into work are:
• Job creation schemes, including through involvement of the Maori and not-for-profit sectors to provide permanent and temporary job opportunities
• Government procurement arrangements that encourage domestic industries such as textiles and rail engineering.
• New policies to control the high and volatile NZ dollar, to help prevent further closures, layoffs and lack of growth in manufacturing
• Stimulating the economy by providing more income to those who are the lowest paid, with more significant increases to the minimum wage than the 25 cent rise this year, and scrapping the proposal to raise GST.
• Making redundancy pay compulsory.

Ends.

© Scoop Media