CTU Media Release

17 June 2013

Manufacturing Strategy a Modern Blueprint

The CTU congratulates Labour, Greens, NZ First and Mana for releasing a comprehensive strategy on the manufacturing sector.

Peter Conway, CTU Secretary, says “manufacturing is of huge significance to our economy and provides many jobs. But we could do so much better”.

Monetary policy that supports the export sector and jobs, greater encouragement of research and development, depreciation rate changes, and more initiatives on high performance work alongside skill development will create better jobs and higher wages.

Peter Conway says “a lot more can be done on government procurement. The CTU wants to see every major government request for proposal (RFP) require a local industry participation clause so as much local content as possible can be included”.

This factor should be part of the weighting in the assessment of the bid alongside issues such as direct cost, whole of life factors, sustainability and health and safety.

“There are currently 251,400 jobless people in New Zealand. We have huge opportunities to build on our natural advantages as a country and create decent jobs. But there has to be a determined plan with active Government support. This Report makes a big contribution towards that”.

ENDS

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