May, 2008

May 2008

Comment

Budget 2008 showed that relatively modest tax cuts nevertheless use up a large amount of money. The annual average cost of the tax cuts is $2.7 billion. John Key had been quoted prior to the Budget as saying that National would have bigger tax cuts. Last October I commented in this Bulletin that for the National Party it seemed that no matter what the question is - the answer is always tax cuts. That stance seemed to wilt somewhat within hours of last week's budget. But - a bidding war on tax cuts is still possible - and carries some real risks.

Submission to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee, May 2008

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Summary

The CTU strongly supports the re-establishment of rest and meal breaks in law in the main framework of employment relations – the Employment Relations Act (ERA).

Access to regular rest and meal breaks is a basic health, safety and well-being requirement. There is a need for certainty on rest and meal break periods and for these requirements to be explicit in minimum employment legislation for awareness and enforceability purposes.

Re-establishing rest and meal breaks in minimum employment law is part of rebuilding decent and basic employment rights legislation which was radically and deliberately destroyed by the Employment Contracts Act (ECA) 1991.

Submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committe, May 2008

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Summary

The CTU has consistently raised the risks of a free trade agreement with China. However we have also recognised that the overwhelming majority of the countries in the world are negotiating free trade agreements and already some 2000 have been signed.

The CTU is opposed to a neo liberal approach to free trade that seeks to break down any barriers to the unfettered access by multinational corporations to land, resources, workers, culture, plant life and so on. We oppose a globalisation agenda that treats labour as a commodity, weakens food security and prohibits nations from controlling their economies in the interests of their people. 

April 2008

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Comment

Food prices are hitting households – and also the headlines. In the 30 years to 2005, world food prices fell by around three-quarters in inflation-adjusted terms. Since then they have risen by 75 percent, with much of the increase in the past year. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Food Price Index, measuring the market prices of cereals, dairy produce, meat, sugar and oils, was 57 percent higher in March 2008 than a year earlier.