2020 meant working more, earning less, a lower standard of living, says CTU

Half of workers who responded to the Council of Trade Unions’ annual satisfaction survey said their standard of living fell in 2020.

The same proportion said their workload had increased, with some saying they routinely worked unpaid overtime, resulting in their effective hourly wage being less than the minimum wage.

Melissa Ansell-Bridges, CTU secretary, said the plight of workers was not the result of the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but rather the continuing legacy of New Zealand’s employer-friendly laws.

“We are still trapped in an individualized employment framework that was primarily devised in the 1990s and that tips the playing field against workers,” he said.

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“Until that framework changes, we won’t see people’s work lives improve appreciably,” he said.

But the Act’s leader, David Seymour, dismissed the CTU poll as propaganda, because the people who completed the poll came from the CTU supporters database.

“People were self-selected and knew how their responses would be used,” Seymour said.

Ansell-Bridges said CTU is looking forward to four major parts of labor law reform this year.

They are increases in sick leave for workers to 10 days a year, an increase in the minimum wage to $ 20 an hour in April, the introduction of a public holiday in Matariki and the creation of fair pay agreements, which would set standards. minimum employment for “Industries”.

But Seymour, who doubted it would be easy for the government to figure out how to enforce fair pay arrangements, said none of these things would improve the economy and ultimately conditions.

“If you want to solve these problems of people frustrated with their work and wanting better wages and conditions, the record of the story is very clear,” he said.

“The only way to do it is with more and better opportunities for more investment, more entrepreneurship, less bureaucracy and more company formation.

“The best thing you can do for businesses is stop attacking them,” he said.

“You look at Matariki, you look at a fair wage, you look at sick leave, you look at the minimum wage, which is way ahead of productivity and inflation, and you add it all up, and you think, ‘Far away. It’s amazing that someone still employs someone. “

Greg Harford, CEO of Retail NZ, said: “Most retailers want to pay their staff well. The problem is the narrow margins of the retail sector. “

But the past year was difficult for many business owners, Harford said.

“There are a lot of small business owners who don’t actually pay themselves the minimum wage for their business, but are forced to pay more for their staff.”

Julia Liu, who was laid off in April from Sky City after more than 20 years working there, said that many workers had a really tough time in 2020.

She had joined the Unite union five years earlier when she felt pressured to accept casual worker status at the casino operator.

At the national level, only about one in 10 workers were affiliated with unions and collective agreements, figures from the Ministry of Enterprise, Innovation and Employment show.

Ansell-Bridges welcomed the planned minimum wage increase, who said repeated warnings in the past that minimum wage increases would cost jobs had proven unfounded.

But the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment warned the government in December that while “no increase would erode the real incomes of the lowest paid workers compared to wage growth and inflation,” the ministry recommended delaying the increase until October. so as not to damage the economic recovery and raise the minimum wage by 25 cents to $ 19.15, instead of $ 20.