Maritime Union backs plans for minimum wage referendum

The Mar­itime Union is back­ing moves for a ref­er­en­dum on boost­ing the min­i­mum wage.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand spokesper­son Vic­tor Bil­lot says the Union has offered its sup­port for the pro­posed ref­er­en­dum put for­ward by the Unite Union.

The Unite Union have sub­mit­ted a request to the Clerk of the House for the right to peti­tion for a ref­er­en­dum on rais­ing the min­i­mum wage to two-thirds of the aver­age wage.

The pro­posed word­ing would read “Should the min­i­mum wage be raised to $15 an hour and then in steps over the next three years until it reach­es two-thirds of the aver­age ordi­nary time hourly rate as rec­om­mend­ed by the 1973 Roy­al Com­mis­sion into Social Secu­ri­ty and the Inter­na­tion­al Labour Organ­i­sa­tion?”

Mr Bil­lot says the prob­lems of low wage work and casu­al­iza­tion were seri­ous prob­lems for New Zealand and need­ed to be sort­ed out.

He says the spi­ralling costs of basic goods such as food and hous­ing were putting many work­ing fam­i­lies under immense pres­sure.

“We are basi­cal­ly look­ing at a sub­stan­tial num­ber of low waged work­ers in New Zealand doing nec­es­sary work, and con­tribut­ing to soci­ety, who are being exploit­ed and used to prop up the econ­o­my for the ben­e­fit of employ­ers.”

Mr Bil­lot says the pro­posed ref­er­en­dum would attract a groundswell of sup­port from work­ers.

“Peo­ple are sick of see­ing a small elite enrich them­selves while oth­ers have to strug­gle with pover­ty wages.”