Maritime Union backs change of Government to put workers first

The Mar­itime Union says a change of Gov­ern­ment is required to deliv­er secure jobs and decent wages for New Zealand work­ers.

Mar­itime Union Nation­al Sec­re­tary Joe Fleet­wood says work­ers seemed to be com­ing last under cur­rent poli­cies.

In terms of employ­ment leg­is­la­tion, many New Zealand work­ers were suf­fer­ing from the effects of casu­al­iza­tion and inse­cure work.

Work­ers need­ed a lev­el of secu­ri­ty and income that could under­pin a sta­ble fam­i­ly life and com­mu­ni­ty, he says.

Mr Fleet­wood says that for many work­ing fam­i­lies, wages were not pay­ing for a rea­son­able stan­dard of liv­ing.

“The cost of basic neces­si­ties such as hous­ing and food is hurt­ing many peo­ple and cre­at­ing a pover­ty trap for the vul­ner­a­ble.”

Low wages and ongo­ing mass unem­ploy­ment had cre­at­ed a social cri­sis and there was no indi­ca­tion that the Gov­ern­ment were tak­ing these issues seri­ous­ly.

Mr Fleet­wood says the Mar­itime Union was sup­port­ing a Labour-led Gov­ern­ment.

Some poli­cies advo­cat­ed by the Greens and Inter­net Mana would also ben­e­fit work­ing peo­ple, he said.

“We need a long term social vision for New Zealand dri­ven by an active, pro-work­er Gov­ern­ment work­ing for the major­i­ty.”