‘Equal pay for equal work’ next barrier to growth

Equal pay for equal work will be the next anti-growth roadblock to be put up by our supposedly pro-growth and innovation-backing Government, says National’s Finance spokesman, Don Brash.

Submissions to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs discussion document, “Next Steps Towards Pay Equity”, released in July, close at the end of this week.

“National supports pay equity when it means men and women with the same skill levels doing the same job, but legislating to force equity on the labour market is a nonsense,” says Dr Brash.

“Why, for example, should a bureaucrat in Wellington be allowed to determine that a cafeteria worker does the same job as a builder, and should therefore be paid the same?

“Pay rates should be determined by nothing more complicated than the laws of supply and demand. Setting up a bureaucracy to determine pay rates across different industries is anti-innovation and anti-growth.

“This Government wants business to believe it supports growth, yet it‘s intent on putting up one barrier after another - ratifying the Kyoto Protocol before our trading partners, broadening the scope and powers of local government leading to higher rates and rents, and outlawing stress in the workplace.

“And that’s just so far this term!

“The damage this latest concession to political correctness will inflict on business is enormous and I urge businesspeople to lobby the Ministry on the impact it will have on their growth prospects and the living standards of all New Zealanders,” says Dr Brash.

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