Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says New Zealand workers have to get ready for a serious and long term battle to defend public services.
Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says there are clear indications the National Government intends to drain resources from public services and create more unemployment.
A speech by Finance Minister Bill English today to the Institute of Public Administration outlined the National Government’s plan of so-called austerity measures and an ongoing assault on public services.
Mr Fleetwood says last years tax cuts for the wealthy have now been confirmed as irresponsible and unaffordable.
“This is austerity for the workers to pay for handouts for those travelling first class.”
“The Finance Minister has said that he will cut so-called ‘nice to have’ services. The Maritime Union says that now is the time to reverse the tax cuts that are ‘nice to have’ for those on upper incomes, like John Key and Bill English.”
Mr Fleetwood said the response of New Zealand should be to copy workers in the UK, USA, Ireland and France who have strongly resisted attacks on public services and workers in those services.
“At this time, New Zealand needs strong, well-resourced public services and state investment to rebuild from natural disasters and to tackle unemployment which remains at serious levels.”
He says the National Government now intends to further starve public services of resources in order to pay for the “sports car and champagne” tax cuts to their friends.
The Maritime Union would play a leading role in defending public services and workers from any attacks by the Government.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says today’s budget is an attack on working class New Zealanders.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the increase in GST to 15% was taking money from the pockets of workers to pay for tax cuts for people like John Key, who had so much money they would have trouble knowing what to do with it.

He says rather than increasing GST it would be easier for workers just to hand over a $5 note every time they saw someone walk past in an expensive suit, because this was the actual effect of the GST increase.

“It is a wealth transfer from low to middle income earners to the wealthy.”

GST was a regressive tax that would hit struggling New Zealand families hard.

Mr Fleetwood says that a major problem for New Zealand is growing inequality of wealth.

Inequality leads to social breakdown and long term economic and social problems, as international research has shown, and National’s budget was making inequality worse.

He says the idea promoted by John Key that only high income earners contributed to New Zealand’s economy and society was both offensive and wrong.

“If we are at the stage where New Zealand is being held hostage by a tiny minority of the super rich, maybe it is time to question whether we still live in a democracy?”

Mr Fleetwood says that the international evidence shows that excessive wealth was being accumulated by a few at the top end of the wealth scale, while the majority of workers were squeezed by rising costs and static incomes.

“John Key is rewarding the big business, finance sector CEO types who are the backers of the National Government, whose greed knows no limits.”

He says the obsession with tax cuts was leading New Zealand down a dead end road as tax was essential to pay for hospitals, schools, infrastructure and other vital public goods.

However the tax burden was increasingly falling on low to middle income earners rather than the wealthy, which was the wrong way around.

The Maritime Union says the budget announced today is a step backward for transport infrastructure.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says the lack of support for the maritime industry is a glaring omission.

Mr Hanson says the abandonment of the SeaChange strategy to build up New Zealand shipping in favour of building more roads is a bad mistake.

“The Government has poured money into roading as the world hits peak oil and climate change. They are moving in exactly the wrong direction. Shipping is the transport mode of the future that is low-impact, environmentally responsible and cost effective in the long term, but has been sidelined.”

Mr Hanson says New Zealand is dependent on maritime trade, but has allowed its coastal fleet to be decimated by opening the coast to foreign vessels.

He says building roads is putting good money after bad and is only prolonging crunch time by relocating traffic jams around badly designed cities.

Mr Hanson says the Maritime Union has several key goals for a secure and stable New Zealand economy.

These include the public ownership of key assets such as ports, the development of a national ports strategy “KiwiPort” to get ports working together, the strengthening of job security by reducing casualization of jobs, and support for the development of New Zealand shipping.

He says it appears working class people will be paying for the instability of the global economic system, which served a minority rather than the majority.

“The simple fact is that the world is in the grip of a deepening economic crisis brought about by unregulated global capitalism. The National Party supports more of the same.”