October, 2007

October 2007

Either read on or download a printable version here (MS Word 247k)  

Comment

With the National Party these days it seems that no matter what the question is - the answer is always tax cuts. Take their recent comments about a person they called Joanna Average who earns $44123 annually. In order to make this a story about tax rather than income and well-being they ensured that Joanna had no children. This meant that the very significant tax cuts as part of Working for Families were left out of the calculation. That also meant any benefits from 14 weeks paid parental leave and hugely reduced costs of early childhood education could also be excluded from consideration. Part of Joanna’s income has also moved into a higher tax band, whereas most workers will be in the same bands now as they were 7 years ago. They didn’t mention that there were 16,000 more women who were unemployed in 2000. Fair enough not to mention KiwiSaver in terms of the period considered but any commentary would have surely recognised that the $1000 kickstart, the $20 a week (which is $1040 a year), and the potential of $582 extra a year due to the removal of Specified Superannuation Contributions Withholding Tax on the first 4 percent of employer contributions would add up to a significant benefit to Joanna in the long run. If this story was not just about tax, what other relevant factors to Joanna Average would be mentioned? Try – four weeks’ annual leave and cheaper doctor’s visits and prescription charges for a start. If Joanna did have children and they were in the workforce perhaps the fact that the minimum wage for an 18 year old in 1999 was $4.20 an hour compared with $11.25 an hour today might also get a mention.

CTU Biennial Conference, 15-17 October 2007
Conference Resolution

That the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions - Te Kauae Kaimahi Conference 2007 resolves that it:

Submission to the Foriegn Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee, December 2001

Download a copy here (MS Word 120k)

Submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committte, May 2007

Download a copy here (MS Word 266k

Download Te Huarahi mo nga Kaimahi here (PDF file, 515 kb) 

Speech to CTU Biennial Conference
Unions, Sustainability and Democracy
15th October 2007

Sharon Clair
Maori Vice President
CTU Te Kauae Kaimahi

For more documents from conference, click here.

Carol Beaumont, CTU secretary, speech to CTU 2007 biennial conference
October 15 2007.
For more documents from conference, click here.

Unions, Sustainability and Democracy – Te Ara Taumata

September 2007

Either read on or download a printable version here (MS Word, 235k)

Comment

Privatisation is back on the political agenda – with a vengeance. John Key recently told a Colliers International property briefing that public-private partnerships can play a really big role in the property sector, in areas like prisons, schools and hospitals. He went on to say that a property could be developed and owned by private investors and leased back to the government, with the asset transferring back to the Crown after a period of time. Or, he said, a private company could have a contract to manage a particular facility without owning the property in which it was based. This raised the spectre of classrooms and hospitals being owned by private interests and leased back to Government – at a cost. National’s health policy announcement this week also suggested "smarter use" of the private sector through public-private partnerships.