Harriet Morison leaves an important legacy, as a unionist suffragist and feminist. Harriet is an example of the strong connections between women workers and their fight for women’s rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. In 1890 in Dunedin Harriet Morison became the Secretary of the Tailoresses Union. It was the first union to represent female workers… Read more »
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Tens of thousands of Kiwi workers sacked
Government research conducted by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) shows tens of thousands of Kiwi workers are being sacked by their employers every year as employers take advantage of unfair trial periods. “What this research shows us is that people who are employed on trial periods are being increasingly treated as disposable.… Read more »
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What the Tax Working Group did and didn’t do
The Tax Working Group (TWG) has reported back. The reactions to the proposal for taxing the income from capital gains have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous and from “it doesn’t go nearly far enough” to “this is the end of the kiwi way of life”. They have exposed a class society where one… Read more »
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The outlook for 2019
This commentary looks at the year ahead. The Prime Minister has described this as the year of ‘delivery’ for the Government and she aint wrong. In addition we need to keep an eye on what’s happening in New Zealand’s economy and society, and how international events could affect us. Numerous Government working parties will report… Read more »
Read more... Fair Pay Agreements; making work fairer for Kiwis
“Working Kiwis are a step closer to having fairness at work with today’s announced recommendations from the working party on Fair Pay Agreements,” said CTU President, Richard Wagstaff. “New Zealanders deserve jobs that pay enough to live on, with working hours and conditions that allow them to spend time with their families and doing the… Read more »
Read more... How New Zealand’s income is shared, 2018
Newly released statistics allow us to update the share of New Zealand’s income that goes to wages and salaries – the labour share – for the year to March 2018 for the whole economy and to 2017 for individual industries. The labour share of income of income fell from 61.2 percent of Net Domestic Income… Read more »
Read more... CTU comment on employment statistics
Today’s wage figures show that Governments can and do make a real difference to the wages of working people, and that the effort needs to continue, the CTU said today. The CTU also welcomed the strong employment figures. “All the parties in the Coalition Government have excellent policy commitments to improve the wages of people… Read more »
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The union pay premium, 2018
In August, the Centre for Labour, Employment and Work (CLEW) at Victoria University released their annual analysis of collective employment agreements (CEAs). It shows again that people who are part of a collective get better pay rises: the union pay premium. For the year to June 2018 CLEW finds that on average wages in CEAs… Read more »
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New Zealand’s tax system: weak at reducing inequality
How well does New Zealand’s tax system perform in reducing inequality? What would be the effect of some likely changes to it discussed in the interim report of the Tax Working Group, released last week? New Zealand’s personal income tax system is very weak in reducing inequality compared to other OECD countries. So is our… Read more »
Read more... Compassion at the heart of our Government a refreshing change
Compassion is at the heart of the Coalition Government and what a difference a year has made already to the lives of New Zealanders, said CTU President Richard Wagstaff, who attended today’s event in Auckland. “A hands-off Government was not working for New Zealand, the big social and environmental crises of our times such as… Read more »
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