Racing NZ to the bottom
God Australians are competitive. They’ll turn anything into a contest. Today they declared a race to see who could have the lowest wages, and their warm-up is against New Zealand.
We all know, no matter how it is dressed up, that labour market reform is about screwing the workers. But you rarely get to hear its advocates admit that.
Today, Australians got a glimpse under the skirt of the proposed industrial reforms being marketed as delivering "More Jobs, Higher Wages, A Stronger Economy". Industry minister Ian Macfarlane dropped his guard saying Australia should cut its Labour costs to meet those of New Zealand, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Whoops! Predictably he later denied he meant wages should be cut and his spokesperson “clarified” his comments saying labour prices could refer to a lot of extranous employment costs.
So, New Zealand, are you up to the challenge? Will we beat them to the bottom or are you going to meekly surrender yet another trophy?
If you’re up for a race, Don Brash is your man. You won’t see him lifting his skirt like Macfarlane, but he seems keen to give the Aussies a run for their money.
For starters, he wants to get rid of that extra week's holiday you’ve just been given.
Okay, look Don, this is what I reckon. Kiwis are prepared to make sacrifices to see the country succeed. Most New Zealanders have been making those sacrifices for the past fifteen years. What you need to do, Don, is tell them when they are going to get the higher wages and better conditions you reckon will result from those sacrifices.
When will the pay-off come? Go on Don, put a date on it.
It shouldn’t be hard. You could even do it by a formula. You could say New Zealand can afford an extra week’s holiday after it has grown above the OECD average by, say, three per cent.
But of course he won’t do that because there is no pot of gold awaiting workers at the end of the growth rainbow. That pot of gold is called profits and it belongs to the shareholders.
Oh, and Don, whatever you do, don’t use the term “trickle down”.
We all know, no matter how it is dressed up, that labour market reform is about screwing the workers. But you rarely get to hear its advocates admit that.
Today, Australians got a glimpse under the skirt of the proposed industrial reforms being marketed as delivering "More Jobs, Higher Wages, A Stronger Economy". Industry minister Ian Macfarlane dropped his guard saying Australia should cut its Labour costs to meet those of New Zealand, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
We've got to ensure that industrial relations reform continues so we have the labour prices of New Zealand. They reformed their industrial relations system a decade ago. We're already a decade behind the New Zealanders. There is no resting.
Whoops! Predictably he later denied he meant wages should be cut and his spokesperson “clarified” his comments saying labour prices could refer to a lot of extranous employment costs.
So, New Zealand, are you up to the challenge? Will we beat them to the bottom or are you going to meekly surrender yet another trophy?
If you’re up for a race, Don Brash is your man. You won’t see him lifting his skirt like Macfarlane, but he seems keen to give the Aussies a run for their money.
For starters, he wants to get rid of that extra week's holiday you’ve just been given.
If we are being generous, we could assume that the new law was passed with the best of intentions, rather than as a sop to Labour’s union friends. If that is the case, then it is misconceived. It is based on the fantasy that government can simply dial up an income for people, that government can somehow give more holidays to people without that cost affecting anybody, or perhaps with the cost confined to a small group of class enemies.
Okay, look Don, this is what I reckon. Kiwis are prepared to make sacrifices to see the country succeed. Most New Zealanders have been making those sacrifices for the past fifteen years. What you need to do, Don, is tell them when they are going to get the higher wages and better conditions you reckon will result from those sacrifices.
When will the pay-off come? Go on Don, put a date on it.
It shouldn’t be hard. You could even do it by a formula. You could say New Zealand can afford an extra week’s holiday after it has grown above the OECD average by, say, three per cent.
But of course he won’t do that because there is no pot of gold awaiting workers at the end of the growth rainbow. That pot of gold is called profits and it belongs to the shareholders.
Oh, and Don, whatever you do, don’t use the term “trickle down”.
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