cost of living

Workers will look poorly at the $200,000 a year salary increases dished out to New Zealand CEOs, at a time when cost of living for the rest of the country is rocketing up, the National Distribution Union said today.
 
Today’s New Zealand Herald CEO salary survey found average salaries among those CEOs surveyed had shot up from $1.4 million to $1.6 million in just a year, an increase of 14%.
 

A union representing middle and low income workers says 25 cents an hour extra will do little to help workers on the minimum wage.

The Prime Minister told a post cabinet press conference this afternoon that 2 percent was a likely figure for the minimum wage increase, yet to be confirmed by Cabinet.

This equates to 25 cents an hour and National Distribution Union General Secretary Robert Reid said that this was not good enough for workers battling rising costs from petrol, food and other items.

A record jump in inflation reported this morning provides further argument for the need for a decent minimum wage rise, says a union representing low paid workers.

CPI jumped 2.3 per cent in the past three months, driven by the GST increase.  It was the largest increase since the September 1989 quarter.

A substantial increase in the minimum wage is needed to both help low income workers and add further stimulus to the economy, the National Distribution Union (NDU) said today.

The government is expected to announce soon whether the minimum wage will increase from April 1st.  

“Many minimum wage households are struggling to cope with the significant increases in food and living costs over the past year,” NDU General Secretary Robert Reid said.