CTU pushing for $15-an-hour minimum wage

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Pushing for a higher minimum wage is one of three key planks in the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) election year political strategy.

CTU secretary Carol Beaumont today said unions believed the minimum wage should be set at $15 an hour – roughly two-thirds of the average wage.

The CTU believed the minimum wage should stay permanently pegged at two-thirds of the average wage, she said.

The push for higher wages was one of three planks of the CTU's election year strategy launched today at the organisation's biennial conference.

New president Helen Kelly said the other two were worker rights and strong public services.

She said there was a significant role political role for unions, which now represented 350,000 people.

"Workers know that governments can make a big difference to their working lives and we expect a government that supports working people and their families and stands up for people like us," she said.

"The CTU wants to know where all political parties stand on the protection and enhancement of work rights, strong public services, and higher wages."

The campaign planks set the CTU up for an election year battle with National which is proposing watering down existing employment laws and reining in growth in public sector spending.

Green Party MP Sue Bradford backed the CTU's minimum wage call, saying a big hike was necessary to combat poverty.

She said the minimum wage – currently $11.25 an hour – remained too low for people's needs and it was unacceptable that one in five New Zealand children lived in poverty.

"Despite the Government's post-2005 election commitment to NZ First and the Greens to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour by next year – if conditions allow – this is not enough when so many people are dependent on taxpayers' subsidies simply to survive and when the cost of basics like food, power and housing just keeps rising."

She said the minimum wage in New Zealand was just 70 per cent of Australia's minimum wage.

- NZPA