Employers will seek to pocket whatever small tax increase most workers get by off-setting it against future wage increases, said CTU President, Ross Wilson in advance of the launch of the Business NZ Tax Perspectives document tomorrow.

Labour's employment relations policy, launched today, highlights the stark differences between the major parties, said Carol Beaumont, secretary of the NZ Council of Trade Unions.

"If we want to save our world class ACC from the clutches of Australian insurance companies, we must look carefully at the main parties' policies," CTU president Ross Wilson said today.

"Winston Peters' parliamentary record does not support his claim to be the new, workers' advocate," CTU president Ross Wilson said today.He was responding to Peters' attack on the CTU and unions in his speech at the Cashmere Club today.

"I welcome Winston Peters' burst of advocacy for higher wages but where was he when we needed him?"

"NZ First has opposed every Government measure in Parliament over the past six years to improve wage bargaining for workers" Ross Wilson said.

"It opposed the Employment Relations Act in 2000 and it opposed the amendments last year to strengthen it."

"If he had gone into coalition with Labour instead of National in 1996 the Employment Contracts Act could have been repealed three years earlier.

"It is salt in the wounds to blame unions for failing to win higher wages for all workers."

"I hope workers will see Winston Peters' rhetoric as the hypocrisy it is."

"Join our 5% wage campaign Winston; it's been running for six months."

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson is backing the decision of academic staff at Auckland's AUT to take strike action tomorrow. "The AUT Vice Chancellor should reconsider the pay offer, and bring these skilled workers' salaries up to the going rate," said Ross Wilson.

"The current pay offer leaves AUT staff lagging behind their New Zealand counterparts, and way behind the rest of the world."

Ross Wilson said AUT's failure to recognise the value of their workforce penalised students and the staff.

"We need to upskill New Zealanders and to do this we need skilled educators," he said. "Continued undervaluing and underpayment just drives them offshore."

"Don Brash must come clean on the influence of the Business Round Table in a National led Government," CTU president Ross Wilson said today.Ross Wilson said the confidential emails disclosed in the weekend show detailed advice from BRT Chief Executive Roger Kerr to Don Brash and confirm that Don Brash is hostage to big business interests.

"It should be of public concern that the Business Round Table has been secretive about its involvement with Don Brash," Ross Wilson said.

"New Zealanders are entitled to know that a National led Government is going back to the extreme right policies pushed by the Business Round Table in the 1990s.

"That will include a return to an Employment Contracts Act, cuts in holiday, minimum wage and other legal rights, and privatisation of ACC."

Ross Wilson said unions attempt to influence political parties as a voice for working people, and are completely open about that.

"The Business Round Table's track record demonstrates it is the voice for big business and the rich," he said.

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson is backing the decision of academic staff at Auckland's AUT to take strike action tomorrow. "The AUT Vice Chancellor should reconsider the pay offer, and bring these skilled workers' salaries up to the going rate," said Ross Wilson.

"The current pay offer leaves AUT staff lagging behind their New Zealand counterparts, and way behind the rest of the world."

Ross Wilson said AUT's failure to recognise the value of their workforce penalised students and the staff.

"We need to upskill New Zealanders and to do this we need skilled educators," he said. "Continued undervaluing and underpayment just drives them offshore."

The Labour Market and Employment Strategy 'Better Working : Working Better', launched today, sets out a positive approach to the challenges we face in the labour market, CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

"There is a deep irony in yesterday's Business New Zealand's survey through which businesses in this country registered their concern about the lack of skilled workers," said CTU secretary, Carol Beaumont.

This country has fallen behind Australia in wages and labour productivity because we have failed to put money into modernising our businesses and increasing workers' skills and we have ignored the positive power of unions, Peter Conway, told the Remnet Conference in Taupo, today.

National's huge tax cuts would end up in cuts to essential services. Their claim to the contrary is not credible, Carol Beaumont, CTU secretary said today.The cuts, aimed mainly at those on high incomes, would cost nearly $4 billion a year.

This figure pays for over 6,400 teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers and police.

That is:
? 1,990 primary school teachers
? 1,575 secondary teachers
? 618 police
? 1,687 nurses
? 446 doctors
? 97 social workers

"How can you take the pay packets of 6,400 vital state sector workers out of government revenue and say that you would not cut public services? It doesn't add up," Carol Beaumont said.

"At the very least this means that the additional jobs required in health, education and other public services, as the population rises, would not be there under National. A more likely scenario would be actual cuts in staff."

"Those on high salaries would be the winners of National's tax cuts while the rest of New Zealand would face cuts to services like health and education to pay for it," said Council of President Ross Wilson today.

In exercising their legal right to strike PSA mental health workers have the full support of the NZ Council of Trade Unions, said CTU president, Ross Wilson."Their work environment is extremely stressful, recruitment is difficult and their pay should reflect this."

"They and the district health boards have made a great deal of progress in difficult and complex negotiations and there are few outstanding issues," Ross Wilson said.

"We prescribe a 'dose of realism' for the boards and urge them to get back to mediation and settle this dispute in a way that will promote mutual trust and ongoing good will."

In spite of appearances, industrial stoppages this year are still the lowest of the decade, said NZ Council of Trade Unions' president, Ross Wilson.In 1995 there were 67 stoppages. This year there have been 31.

"There is a simple explanation for the recent spate of stoppages. CTU unions have run a highly successful campaign for higher wages. Their motivation is the widening gap between profits and wages."

"Profits rose by 11% each year between 2000 and 2004, yet wages in the whole five year period rose by only 8.3%. In stark contrast, director's fees this year rose by a massive 20.5%."

"As a result of this year's union campaign hundreds of employers have agreed to settlements of 5% or more. When employers refuse to negotiate a fair outcome then workers have a lawful right to strike."

Unions in New Zealand and around the Pacific, concerned for their fellow workers in Tonga, have offered the following help.

• They have sent financial support to Tonga for the striking workers and their families.
• The South Pacific and Oceania Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU) of which the CTU is a member, will provide technical assistance to the new civil service union in Tonga.
• NZ Council of Trade Unions president, Ross Wilson met today with the Hon. Fred Sevele, Tonga's Minister for Labour, Commerce and Industries, to discuss a process for the possible resolution of the wage dispute, at the centre of the unrest in Tonga.

Ends.

Workers and their families will get a much-needed boost in income from the enhanced 'working for families' package announced today, said CTU president, Ross Wilson."This is the sort of relief that really delivers," he said.

"Lifting wages is the most important issue for workers. However, where there is a case for reasonable tax relief it should be targeted to those who need it most."

"Unions have called for this for some time now and the announcement is most welcome," Ross Wilson said.

The NZCTU National Council meets tomorrow to consider intensifying the union movement's campaign in the four weeks before the election."Workers rights to collectively bargain for fair wages, to four weeks annual leave, to a comprehensive publicly-funded accident compensation scheme and to protection from unfair dismissal are all under threat in this election. Unions have pushed hard for these improvements and we do not want to lose them," said NZCTU secretary, Carol Beaumont.

"Will your vote work for working people? This is the question we have raised over the last few months and we have informed workers, their families and communities of the stark differences between a Labour-led or a National-led Government."

"We have also worked hard to let workers know that they would pay for tax cuts with slashes to public health and education. With four weeks left before the election we will be intensifying our efforts in workplaces and on the streets."

The National Party wants to reverse health and safety legislation and systems that have dramatically reduced workplace fatalities by 60% over the past two years."It is clear that a National Government elected on a bribe of tax cuts would be at the cost of workers' lives," said CTU president Ross Wilson.

Not only will National increase workplace deaths but they will also put themselves on a collision course with employers if they do this, he said.

"The NZ Construction Industry Council, for instance, has credited the CTU health and safety representative system with a drop in building site deaths from 18 per 100,000 workers in 1996 to 5 per 100,000 workers last year."

More than 13,000 workers in a range of industries have trained under the CTU site safety representative scheme.

"National's Wayne Mapp doesn't seem to understand that the current system relies on informed cooperation between employers and workers."

"The CTU and Business NZ are currently developing a joint Stage 3 course for health and safety representatives," Ross Wilson concluded.

Ross Wilson today, on behalf of unionists throughout the country, paid tribute to David Lange."David Lange led us to the dignity of an independent foreign policy", said Ross Wilson, President of the Council of Trade Unions.

"This was in stark contrast to the subservience of the Vietnam War period", he said today.

Unions also recognise that it was David Lange who called a halt to the excesses of Rogernomics ? in areas such as social policy, the labour market and flat tax.

"Today, we pay tribute to David Lange for his leadership, vision, and values, and we send our condolences to his family and friends".

"We also remember David for his fantastic wit and wonderful one-liners, even on the most serious of Prime Ministerial occasions", said Ross Wilson.

The CTU is challenging National to come clean on its minimum wage policy."There may be some difficulty here because Don Brash is confused and out of touch," Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

"He is on record (Listener, August 13-19) as saying he believes the minimum wage is $8.50 an hour, when in fact it is $9.50."

Brash's confusion illustrates National's indifference to the issues that face workers, especially young workers, Carol Beaumont said. "Their record with youth is not good."

The National-NZ First government in the 1990s froze the minimum wage for 18 and 19-year-olds at a miserable $4.20 an hour. The adult minimum stayed at $7.

"What we can't afford right now is an exodus of young people, looking for a better deal across the Tasman," she said. "With our current low levels of unemployment the country needs skilled workers."

A new project to help more workers into training and education is the start of a major culture change involving workers, companies and state enterprises, Council of Trade Unions secretary Carol Beaumont said today.

Speech by Carol Beaumont, Secretary, NZ Council of Trade Unions at the launch of the Learning Representatives Project. Parliament, 6pm, August 9, 2005

Wage statistics show that union campaigns are winning decent pay rises for workers although there is still a long way to go, Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

In this Bulletin, CTU economist Peter Conway discusses how National has stolen unions lines about low pay
compared with Australia in order to promise tax cuts, wage bargaining
results under ERA and ECA, consensus economic forecasts, how the net
migration loss to Australia was higher in 1999, National support for the
Irish model (yeah right!), an explanation for our productivity gap with
Australia, plus information on employment, the fiscal surplus, CPI, paid
parental leave, income per capita comparisons, and statistics on house
prices, trade, work stoppages, retail sales and the cost of food in
Auckland.