• Full Story

Union outraged by chief executive pay hike

Email
Print

Union outraged by chief executive pay hike

3News NZ

The SFWU says inequality is growing in New Zealand (file)

The SFWU says inequality is growing in New Zealand (file)

A new report on pay rates has presented "shocking evidence" of growing inequality in New Zealand, a union says.

The Service and Food Workers Union says the Strategic Pay Survey released on Monday shows that in 2011 chief executives were given salary increases greater than the wages its members earn in a year.

"The average base salary for chief executives rose nearly 10 percent last year to $315,000," union national secretary John Ryall says.

"For hard-working New Zealanders slogging their guts out caring and cleaning, wages are too low to put food on the table and pay basic household bills."

Mr Ryall says the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

"Until the very lowest pay rates are increased, the equity gap will grow and, with it, poverty in New Zealand."

NZN

Post a Comment

Before commenting, please take the time to read our moderation guide


(Won't be published)



Comments

21/08/2012 11:28:04 a.m.

@Chris wrote:

"Money does not grow on trees" It grows on CEOs.

21/08/2012 10:55:58 a.m.

Wiseacre wrote:

@Chris - That's right Chris, money doesn't grow on trees - if it did it would be an actual valuable resource. Instead, the private banks create money out of thin air by selling debt. Money is created just by inserting some numbers into a computer. By design, there is not enough actual money to pay off all the debt. It is a nonsensical situation, designed to keep the people enslaved to the money lenders. By rights, it should be the Government that is the issuing authority of the money that circulates within the country. Instead, it borrows the money from private banking monopolies and then it has to pay interest for this *privilege*. Banking laws need to be changed to stop the autonomous creation of credit by private banks. The issue of new currency should only be by the Reserve Bank, to be created as a credit, not a debt. The creation of money must return to the control of the people and must directly benefit each one of us.

21/08/2012 10:28:11 a.m.

Mike wrote:

It doesn't take much to outrage a union. If the sun rises in the morning, thats enough to outrage a union!

The workers can always band together, invest their own money and run their own businesses. Take Fonterra, it basically is exactly that. A bunch of workers (farmers) banded together in business and have over time built NZ largest company.

Oh wait, that might require them getting of their backsides?

If look at the other side, a union member responsible for many people gets better paid than a union worker responsible for nobody. If unions dont like CEO wages, they should start by offering that all union members incharge of others will take a pay cut, and that money saved could be used for those at the bottom not responsible for anyone and getting the lowest money. Unions are parasital hypocrytes!

Take the union dues collected throughout NZ. how many billions have they sucked out of hard working NZrs over the years? Oh wait, thats a TRADE UNION SECRET! How about unions disclose how much they are ripping NZ members off, and the totals they add up to each year. If we see those, then we will see that while CEO figures look high, union figures are even higher for a few elite union memebrs to live like kings. Now if the unon invested all that LOOT that they have taken off hard working NZrs for more jobs etc, it would be one thing, but they dont.

21/08/2012 8:12:44 a.m.

Chris wrote:

Well if they work hard they can get good pay too. Money does not grow on trees.

21/08/2012 8:07:09 a.m.

Wiseacre wrote:

Under the current neoliberal paradigm, the wealthy few are getting increasingly wealthier while the poor majority are going under. Inequality is increasing exponentially, and it is unsustainable. The policies of this National-led Government are exacerbating the problem, entrenching poverty for the masses as they favour the wealthy few. Their policies have sucked growth out of the economy, dramatically increased unemployment, and gutted living standards for the many. National haven't got a clue how to *fix* the economy. Can the wealthy elite not see that their policies are destroying the very markets upon which their wealth relies? Global corporate capitalism is an abject failure. The fundamental premise of the current economic system - that the unlimited accumulation of wealth by a few individuals will result in the good of everybody - is patently false. The sooner that we face up to this, the better off we will all be.

21/08/2012 6:29:40 a.m.

alison wrote:

This is not new news and I really do wonder why nothing has been done to drive up workers pay. It is obvious that employers can afford it for all their bleating and this govt is not planning anything to change. Roll on elections.