June 29, 2009

“Productivity dividend” required to distribute wealth

The Mari­time Uni­on has called for a “pro­ductiv­ity dividend” from employ­ers to spread the wealth cre­ated by new tech­no­logy in the work­place.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Gen­er­al Sec­ret­ary Tre­vor Han­son says that the grow­ing use of auto­mated tech­no­logy in the work­place could have harm­ful effects in a reces­sion unless the profits were shared.

He says that unless the pro­ductiv­ity gains of new tech­no­lo­gies are dis­trib­uted through­out soci­ety, espe­cially to dis­placed work­ers, it would res­ult in social cata­strophe.

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