Fairness @ Work Plays of the Week Issue 6

Welcome to Plays of the Week - a weekly heads up from the Council of Trade Unions Fairness @ Work campaign.  Tips, tools and news to help you start worksite conversations each week about the real stories this election.  Print off or forward 'Plays of the Week' to workmates, family and friends, and better still let them know they can sign up for it from the CTU website.

The wage gap with Oz
After ballooning out in the 1990s when National was last in office, the wage gap with Australia has stabilized over recent years.  National have criticised the wage gap, but they have no plan on how to close it.  Instead they have released an industrial relations policy which cuts worker and union rights, is completely silent on lifting wages, and coupled with other policies will leave workers much worse off.

Social services make up our wage packet
And from a worker's perspective lots of things make up our wage packet - including the wage rate itself, tax and also the social services that impact on our incomes. Cheaper doctor visits and prescriptions, subsidies for early childhood education, paid parental leave and so on all make up the ‘social wage’ in addition to other social services.  There is no point getting a large tax cut if it means the social wage is under attack, through more user pays across health and education and high road tolls.

Did you know?
Did you know that the wage gap with Australia grew by 50.3% from (June) 1990 to 1999 when National was in power, but only 1.4% from 1999 to 2007 since Labour led governments have been in office?

What's happening 
Check out this page for election events in your area: http://union.org.nz/event/election.  There's a lot on in September, including education election meetings, meet-the-candidates meetings and film screenings.

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