Maritime Union of New Zealand

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 a just released OECD report on the New Zealand economy is a politically driven document with a right-wing, anti-working class agenda.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Trevor Hanson says some of the “market oriented reforms” proposed by the OECD report had been so discredited by the recent economic crisis and past history that it was a surprise anyone could suggest them with a straight face.

“How dare the authors of this report come out and preach policies that end in casualized jobs, long hours, shift work and low wages for New Zealand workers?”

Mr Hanson says it is obvious that New Zealand society is stressed with long hours, low wages and job insecurity creating major negative issues for working people including violence, drug abuse, crime and family breakdown.

“The real aim of these so-called experts is to teach workers to be constantly worried about job loss, comply with every request of their boss no matter how unreasonable, have husbands and wives working different shifts, and see wages constantly losing ground against the cost of living and shareholder profits. This is the reality of New Zealand today.”

He says this is a result of the deregulated, 24 hour/7 day society, where family life and community life are under constant attack from the “demands of the mighty dollar.”

Mr Hanson says the result of free market and free trade policies is the creation of a “working poor” in New Zealand and a group of people trapped in insecure casual work who were now being hit by rising unemployment.

He says that proposals to “bring back the privatization agenda from the dead” and sell off ports and rail were clearly aimed at benefiting global corporations rather than the New Zealand public.

“Through privatization policies of the past, assets were stripped, infrastructure run down, land and industry hocked off to passing speculators and profits drained overseas, while New Zealand accumulates debt and we become tenants in our own country.”

Mr Hanson says the push to dismantle New Zealand’s public health system was a sign that this is on the agenda for big business.

“Does the OECD want an American health system where tens of millions of workers can’t even afford to get health care and they want to see your credit rating when they come to pick you up in an ambulance?”

Mr Hanson says it is time New Zealand workers resisted attempts to turn them into full time production units to make profits for global corporations.

“We need to run society to ensure security and stability and a decent life for all people.”

The Maritime Union says a major Union victory in Europe for job security for port workers signals a turning of the tide in the global maritime industry.

The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly on 18 January 2006 to throw out a plan to extend corporate control over European ports.

On 16 January, 6000 dockers from 16 European countries mounted a strong protest against the plan in Strasbourg, France, in defence of jobs, working conditions, health and safety, and the quality of port services.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says it is a major victory that was gained by an active campaign by workers – and which has implications for the New Zealand industry.

“The wheel is turning against free market policies in the international maritime industry.”

A previous attempt in Europe to introduce a similar package was defeated in 2003.

Mr Hanson says the signs are that more responsible and enlightened maritime policies are being introduced the world over.

He says massive state investment in shipping in Brazil, and a rejection of the free-market model throughout Latin America, was of interest to the Union.

A recent joint report by Government, Unions and environmental groups on ‘flag of convenience’ overfishing in Australian waters was another promising sign.

“We have finally got some progress on the mistreatment of overseas crews in New Zealand waters, and we want to make sure that workers are not seen as a cheap resource to be shuttled around the globe for insecure casual jobs.”

Mr Hanson says the victory of the European dockers is a major positive step in the continuing struggle for secure permanent jobs in the maritime industry.