“We are seeing low quality growth in what New Zealand produces,” says CTU Economist Bill Rosenberg commenting on the June GDP growth statistics released today. “Not all growth is equal.”
Justice Minister Amy Adams will announce her response to the Strengthening New Zealand’s Legislative Response to Family Violence report at midday today, and working people are calling for better support systems at work for survivors of violence.
Working people in New Zealand deserve the freedom to be respected and valued at work regardless of where they were born.
Today the Council of Trade Unions spoke to the Labour, Green and Māori parties’ inquiry about the importance of every Kiwi having a home; a place to raise and look after family.
“Today the National Government voted to make regional authorities responsible for deciding whether people get to spend time with the families on Easter Sunday or not. This was a bad decision by the National Government,” CTU Secretary Sam Huggard said.
Working people are pleased that today politicians will be discussing the Minimum Wage (Contractor’s Remuneration) Bill.
“We are calling on political parties who care about working people, and their families, to support this fairer law,” CTU Secretary Sam Huggard said.
Hundreds of concerned New Zealanders have come together to fund a full page advertisement in the Nelson Mail today to tell Sir Peter Talley to negotiate fairly with people who work at Talley’s-owned meat processor AFFCO.
The public message is the result of crowd-funding by Together – the digital campaigns arm of New Zealand’s union movement.
“There is plenty that needs doing that could put more Kiwis in work. But figures out today show that there are still too many Kiwis out of work,” says CTU Economist Bill Rosenberg. In the June quarter official unemployment was 5.1 percent or 131,000 people, barely changed from 5.2 percent three months before.
The Council of Trade Unions is backing the call of two former All Blacks to protect family time at Easter.
A government bill, which will make it easier for shops to open on Easter Sunday, is due back before Parliament this week for its third and final reading.
A meeting on Pacific labour mobility in New Zealand this week has a glaring omission – the voices of organised labour, the NZ Council of Trade Unions said today.
The inaugural Pacific Labour Mobility Annual Meeting gets underway in Christchurch today. It is taking place ahead of a Ministerial meeting of the Pacer Plus trade and investment talks.
New Zealand working women are building momentum in their call for fair pay.
“It is wonderful to see another group of working women, this time midwives, using their collective voice to turn up the volume on the need for their incredibly important work, to be fairly paid by the Government,” said CTU Secretary Sam Huggard.
The future of work needs to be one where working people have good, satisfying jobs with decent incomes, and Labour’s announcements today on boosting skills are welcome, the CTU said today.