July 21, 2009
Media Release

Brash appointment signals trouble for Kiwi workers - EPMU

The Government’s decision to appoint Don Brash to chair the 2025 productivity taskforce signals trouble for workers, says the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union.

The union is concerned the appointment indicates the government expects outcomes from the group consistent with Dr Brash’s widely known neo-liberal beliefs.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says such a hard right economic agenda would be bad news for New Zealand workers and any prospect of closing the wage gap with Australia.

“While we will have to reserve our views until we see the final makeup of the taskforce, Brash’s appointment is a very strong signal that the recommendations being sought by the National-Act Government are the same prescriptions we saw in the 1990s.

“Dr Brash is well known for his firm views on removing labour protections, privatising assets and slashing the public sector, all of which led to wage stagnation, high unemployment and rising social dysfunction throughout the 1990s.

“Brash’s personal involvement in implementing many of the structural problems currently holding back New Zealand’s economic performance may also limit his effectiveness in this role. As a long time champion of the Reserve Bank Act, for example, he is unlikely to advocate the long overdue reform of this legislation.”

The EPMU is also concerned about Brash’s top-down approach to improving productivity.

“For productivity improvements to be sustainable and fair they can’t be code for forcing people to work longer for less money, it has to be about worker engagement and investment in new technology and research and development.

“If productivity improvements are going to be sustainable they need to translate into real improvements in workers’ living standards, not just higher profits for business. Unless workers have a stake in this process we’re simply not going to lift our performance over the long term.

“Unfortunately the tired old ideological answers Dr Brash and his peers have been pushing for more than thirty years are unlikely to result in anything like the outcomes New Zealand’s workers deserve.”

Last year the EPMU set up the Centre for High Performance Work in conjunction with the Dairy Workers Union to get workers and their employers working together to improve workplace productivity.

The Centre has so far run productivity projects in conjunction with seven medium to large New Zealand businesses.

For more information about the Centre for High Performance Work visit www.chpw.co.nz

ENDS

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