The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi has sent an open letter to the Government objecting to its decision to block the NZCTU and other unions from attending the Budget lock-up on 22 May.

“We object in the strongest possible terms to the Government’s decision to bar the NZCTU from the Budget 2025 lock-up. The NZCTU represents over 300,000 workers across the private and public sectors and is the largest democratic organisation in New Zealand,” said NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff.

“Workers will be significantly impacted by the decisions made by government at Budget 2025, and it is important that the NZCTU can accurately report on Budget decisions to ensure working people are properly briefed.

“This Government appears to believe the banks, international financial institutions, and consulting houses are more important than working people, and it seems that is why the representatives of working people have been denied access.

“Last week the Government made the highly controversial decision to unilaterally gut the pay equity claims process. It is therefore unsurprising that it doesn’t want working people to understand the rationale and impacts of its Budget decisions this year,” said Wagstaff.

© Scoop Media