Maritime Union of New Zealand

The Maritime Union says the planned privatization of key public assets must be stopped.

The Prime Minister announced today the National Government were planning partial sales of key state assets.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the loss of further public assets would be a disaster for working people.

He says the Maritime Union would campaign to protect the assets that generations of New Zealand workers collectively contributed towards and built up.

“There is no way we can allow the National Government to flog off any more public assets to their rich mates.”

Mr Fleetwood says public assets such as energy and electricity generators and Solid Energy should remain in public ownership.

He says that previous claims the privatization of assets would benefit “mum and dad investors” were nonsense.

“All New Zealand mums and dads are already shareholders in these public assets. The only beneficiaries of privatization will be overseas investors and a minority of the very wealthy.”

“Privatization is not a one off, it is a process, and National are trying to get the process underway that will end in the sell off of the last remaining assets we own.”

He says that guarantees that majority ownership would remain in New Zealand hands were not worth the paper they were written on.

Mr Fleetwood says that asset sales together with free trade deals would soon reduce New Zealanders to tenants in their own country.

He says the Maritime Union would be mobilizing in election year to ensure all New Zealanders were aware of the threat of privatization.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has vowed to go on the offensive against employment law changes pushed through by the National Government.

The passing of the Employment Relations Act and Holidays Act Amendment Bills in Parliament yesterday spells the beginning of the end for the John Key Government, says the Union.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the law changes are about one thing – making life harder and sucking more profit out of hard pressed working people.

“On top of the GST hike on workers, unemployment, low wages, rewriting laws overnight for multinationals, and the continued attacks on the education system, the rot has set in for a National Government that has turned against the people.”

“These laws are an attack on workers. The National Government is against working people. John Key is a multi millionaire from the finance speculation sector and he represents multi millionaires. He has no interest in the wellbeing of the majority of New Zealanders.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union will be on the front line in fighting any laws that threaten the wellbeing of working people.

That would mean ramping up an ongoing campaign against the National Government and employers who used the new laws against workers.

Mr Fleetwood says the reality of what the law changes means may take some time to sink in for many people.

“As workers see their workmates sacked for stupid reasons or no reasons under the 90 day fire at will law, then disquiet and concern will turn to anger.”

He says the key issues for workers in New Zealand at the moment are low pay, unemployment and insecurity of jobs by contracting out and casualization.

“On all these issues the National Government has failed workers completely.”

“Workers in unions have better wages, conditions and representation. If you are a worker get in a union now, because this National Government is working against your interests.”

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says National’s announcement of attacks on workers rights will be fought hard.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the restrictions on union access to workplaces was a serious attack on the right of New Zealand workers to organize.

“National have now dropped any pretense of moderation in their policies – the phoney war is over and National’s agenda of tax cuts for the rich, privatization and now tearing up the basic rights of working people is out there for all to see.”

He says that National is embarking on a repeat of extremist 1990s policies but doing it in a more cunning way.

“The fact they have a smiley face fronting it this time around does not change the sinister intention.”

He says the attack on workers and their organizations is not surprising as the Government had failed to deal with unemployment, which was now rising again, and were looking to go on the offensive.

Mr Fleetwood says any attacks on workers would be met with fierce resistance.

He says unionized workers are one of the few obstacles to National creating a New Zealand where a majority of people would face an increasingly grim situation of high unemployment, poor wages, casualization and unaffordable housing and food.

“Unionized workers have better wages, better conditions, and safer workplaces – all reasons why National wants to bag unions and drag us back to the nineteenth century when workers had no rights.”

Mr Fleetwood says there is one way that New Zealand workers will “catch up with Australia.”

“That is to unionize and negotiate better pay.”

“The problem is that workers are getting less and less of a share of the wealth they produce which is being sucked up as corporate profits that accumulate to the already wealthy.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union would campaign hard against any Government that threatened the hard won rights of the working class to organize.

He says all working New Zealanders must realize that the divide and rule approach of National was hurting their interests.

ENDS

For more information, contact Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood on 021364649

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 of New Zealand (MUNZ) is backing calls by the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) for the Government to step in to ensure new rail rolling stock for Auckland is made in New Zealand.

Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the news of the failure of public owned KiwiRail to bid for the contract to build the electric units reflects badly on the Government.

“The decision by Kiwirail not to bid for the job shows a failure of leadership, at both the corporate level and at the Government level.”

Mr Fleetwood says the National Prime Minister John Key has recently claimed that unemployed workers need a “kick in the pants.”

“But since National came to office, tens of thousands of New Zealanders have lost their jobs, and now it appears National have sabotaged hundreds more high quality jobs for workers in a recession by failing to provide leadership and giving away work that can be done in New Zealand.”

Mr Fleetwood says that New Zealanders must continue to put pressure on the Government to deliver jobs and industry to New Zealand.

He says a study by economics consultancy BERL estimated last week that local construction of the electric units would add between 770 to 1270 additional jobs and $232 to $250 million to GDP.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) recently formed a Strategic Union Alliance in the transport industry.