Social insurance means greater income security for workers

The Mari­time Uni­on is back­ing the Social Unem­ploy­ment Insur­ance Scheme agreed between Gov­ern­ment, Busi­ness New Zea­l­and, and the Coun­cil of Trade Uni­ons.

Mari­time Uni­on of New Zea­l­and Nation­al Sec­ret­ary Craig Har­ris­on says the scheme sup­ports work­ers when they need help the most, and deliv­ers secur­ity to fam­il­ies and com­munit­ies across New Zea­l­and.

The mari­time industry was an essen­tial industry and its mem­bers worked in high risk areas.

“This is a volat­ile industry and Social Insur­ance will provide wel­come sup­port to work­ers who through no fault of their own lose jobs.”

Mr Har­ris­on says the scheme will be a good step­ping stone to cre­at­ing great­er secur­ity for work­ers, which must include those in low-wage, pre­cari­ous and cas­u­al­ized jobs.

He says cas­u­al­iz­a­tion and pre­cari­ous work is a major prob­lem in the mari­time industry and many essen­tial indus­tries and it was import­ant there was fur­ther reform to pro­tect vul­ner­able work­ers from exploit­a­tion and insec­ur­ity.

“Many essen­tial work­ers are under­paid and have poor con­di­tions of work, and are extremely vul­ner­able to redund­ancy.”

Mr Har­ris­on says that Social Unem­ploy­ment Insur­ance is urgent and we need to put it in place now before the next cycle of restruc­tur­ing and redund­an­cies occur.

In the mari­time industry, the extra pro­tec­tion afforded by the poten­tial ill­ness cov­er will also provide peace of mind to work­ers, he says.

The Gov­ern­ment con­sulta­tion on the scheme runs until 26 April 2022.