$15 minimum wage meeting Joe Fleetwood (MUNZ)

Joe Fleetwood from the Maritime Union of New Zealand talking to a public meeting in Wellington on 9 August, 2009. He speaks about why MUNZ supports the petition for a Citizens Initiated Referendum on raising the minimum wage. The goal of the petition is an immediate rise to $15 an hour, and then getting the minimum wage linked to 66% of the average wage. The meeting was co-organised by RAM Residents Action Movement http://www.ram.org.nz and the Alliance Party http://www.alliance.org.nz. There's more on the petition campaign at http://www.unite.org.nz/?q=node/610.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Minimum wage
• petition
• Unite Union
• MUNZ
• Maritime Union
• trade union
• unions
• recession
• economic crisis
• Alliance Party
• New Zealand
• RAM

[thegreenseven]

Well intentioned do-gooders think that raising the MW helps low wage earners. Actually, the opposite occurs. What you do when you raise the minimum wage is to ensure that those whose skills are not up to the new rate will become unemployed. The market, if allowed to set wages, will maximize the total number of jobs. That is due to the laws of supply and demand. The number of jobs will be adjusted by the rate the market will bear. Raise the MW and you will see a reduction in the low paid jobs.