Maritime Union urges workers to resist National's privatization plans

Maritime Union of New Zealand media release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday 26 January 2011

The Maritime Union says the planned privatization of key public assets must be stopped.

The Prime Minister announced today the National Government were planning partial sales of key state assets.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the loss of further public assets would be a disaster for working people.

He says the Maritime Union would campaign to protect the assets that generations of New Zealand workers collectively contributed towards and built up.

"There is no way we can allow the National Government to flog off any more public assets to their rich mates."

Mr Fleetwood says public assets such as energy and electricity generators and Solid Energy should remain in public ownership.

He says that previous claims the privatization of assets would benefit "mum and dad investors" were nonsense.

"All New Zealand mums and dads are already shareholders in these public assets. The only beneficiaries of privatization will be overseas investors and a minority of the very wealthy."

"Privatization is not a one off, it is a process, and National are trying to get the process underway that will end in the sell off of the last remaining assets we own."

He says that guarantees that majority ownership would remain in New Zealand hands were not worth the paper they were written on.

Mr Fleetwood says that asset sales together with free trade deals would soon reduce New Zealanders to tenants in their own country.

He says the Maritime Union would be mobilizing in election year to ensure all New Zealanders were aware of the threat of privatization.

ENDS

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