Media release: FIRST Union
Friday October 12, 2012

Manufacturing inquiry needed to stop jobs massacre

An inquiry into ways our third largest employing industry can be better supported is welcome, FIRST Union said today.

At the EPMU Jobs Crisis Summit today the Labour, Green and NZ First parties have announced a Parliamentary inquiry into manufacturing, following similar inquiries earlier into aged care and banking.

This follows attempts to get Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee to hold an inquiry, which was denied by the National Party.

“An inquiry into manufacturing won’t bring back the thousands of jobs already lost in the past three or four years, but it will draw attention to the jobs crisis facing manufacturing, and what can be done about it,” FIRST Union General Secretary Robert Reid said.

“Manufacturers have been completely let down by successive governments’ refusal to take any initiative in tackling our highly overvalued dollar.”

“This has seen thousands of job losses for workers in the sector, including over 1,000 job losses in wood processing in the past four years, and more still in textiles, two sectors where our union represents workers.”

An inquiry should highlight the options governments have available to them, and that they are not powerless to act, as National seem resigned to, Robert Reid said.

He said FIRST Union would participate in the inquiry, and called on business representatives to take part also.

“In the past, some business lobby groups have ignored calls for changes to monetary policy and other settings, which has raised questions over whether they are representing the interests of international finance capital ahead of their local manufacturers and exporters.”

“Employers that our union deals with have consistently identified the volatile New Zealand dollar as the cause of closures or redundancies.”

“There are many other business representatives with a better grip on real economy, including those present at the EPMU summit today, and we look forward to a full debate among those with a genuine interest in looking for solutions for the manufacturing sector,” Robert Reid said.

Ends.

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The National Distribution Union and Finsec joined forces in October 2011 to form New Zealand’s newest union – FIRST. The union represents over 27,000 people working in Finance, Industrial (Textile and Wood) Retail, Stores & Transport. http://firstunion.org.nz

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