Written By: - Date published: 10:46 am, February 20th, 2008 - 96 comments
Categories: john key, national, tax, workers' rights -
Tags: john key, national, tax, workers' rights
“We would love to see wages drop”. You would think that given the simmering debate about our wage gap with Australia at the moment that would be the last thing you’d expect to hear from the leader of the National Party. Especially when he’d gone on record in the national media just a week ago claiming under pressure that his party “will raise wages“.
But that’s exactly what John Key told the Kerikeri District Business Association in late December last year.
“We would love to see wages drop”
Think about what that means for a second.
For most people their wage is the only income they have to pay their mortgages or rent, to feed and clothe themselves and their kids and to make sure they can have some kind of a decent life – all the things most Kiwis need and want.
And John wants them to have less.
We’ve talked about the wage issue time and time again on this blog and how the National Party has no answers on how to raise wages. They seem only to want to talk about tax cuts, and I guess this explains why.
That Key would say this to an audience of employers and within two months try to tell the New Zealand public the complete opposite is a disgraceful act of dishonesty, and it shows his real attitude to working New Zealanders.
Disdain.
I’m starting to understand how Key can claim his tax cuts wouldn’t be inflationary – his plan is to take them out of our wages.
UPDATE: Around the blogs Jordan Carter, No Right Turn, SproutBean and Kiwiblogblog have all weighed in. Scoop has press releases from Labour and the EPMU
UPDATE 2: The Council of Trade Unions has entered the fray, challenging Key to come clean on wages.
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This is outragous!
All that bullshit about the wage gap, about getting wages up, and we find out that he actually wants wages down!
All those families on the edge, struggling to get by, he wants them poorer.
I can’t believe it, I knew they were bad but it’s amazing they would go that far.
National wants to cut our pay.
increasing the unemployment rate should achieve John’s nirvana of lower NZ wages
Don’t forget cutting benefits and freezing the minimum wage, Sprout.
What a disgrace. Just goes to show how hollow National’s tax cut plan is after all. I expect the mainstream media drop the dying Owen Glenn scandalette and pick up on this blatant example of dishonesty and hypocrisy from John Key.
Judging by the lack of pickup so far I guess half-baked scandal trumps substance any day of the week in New Zealand’s fearless mainstream media.
There’s supposed to be a [chortle] in there somewhere to indicate sarcasm but the system didn’t like my triangular brackets.
Why do you people at the standard consistantly take a few words out of context and proceed to use that as basis for outright attack on that person.
What a coincidence! Labour, the EPMU, and the Standard simultaneously release a press release, about the same obscure article in a tiny provincial newspaper, published three months ago!
And they’ve all deliberately, selectively, chosen to misquote John Key.
His point was pretty clear. The way for wages to increase is by increasing productivity. Not by allowing union to extort employers because of over-heat in the labour market, caused by the brain drain that Labour is doing nothing to stop.
disgraceful
But credit to the man he did finally say what he truly believes in
That’s all I really ask
So two definites then
higher costs for gp visits
and lower wages.
anything else ?
This is beyond the pale from Key. His comments are a disgrace.
I want to say he should resign but in fact he is jsut speakign the truth of Natioanl’s intentions, he has done nothing that would warrant sacking by National except being caught tellign the truth.
Now, we know for sure that National plans to make oridnary jokers worse off and put more porfits in the pockets of their big business mates. Who in their right mind would vote for that?
g – what is out of context about thse words “we would love wages to drop”?
Pray explain how they could be contextualised in any other way than that National wants wages to drop.
OMG! EWS in unions and Labour party care about wages shock!
See, I just had a look and the Labour release hit the newswires yesterday at 5.30pm so it’s hardly breaking news. Even on the blogs No Right Turn and Just Left both beat the standard to the story with posts last night. Good effort at midirection EWS but what do you think about John Key’s plan to cut your pay?
ELV. Ther is no misquote here: Key says they would love to see wages drop.
He also says productivity should go up (as does every single other party), but the fruits of that increaed productivity would not go to ordinary kiwis under National. We would be worked harder and get less pay.
Do you seriously want a pay cut?
Sam – Do you have the original notes from the author of the article? … Um no.
I think we can safely assume the entire sentence was not just “We would love to see wages drop”, but that was what the author chose to publish, why? Because he clearly wanted to influence the public perception of John Key.
The media in NZ are often shallow and only publish what they want to just to prove their point of view.
Why do you people at the standard consistantly take a few words out of context and proceed to use that as basis for outright attack on that person.
There’s no lack of context g. If you click on the pull-out quote you’ll find a link to the full story:
http://www.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/wages-drop-800.jpg
John Key wants to cut our wages. In fact, he’s said he’d love to. How does that square with his comments to the media, and why’s he telling business one thing and the New Zealand public another?
g – what a perposterius position that is. Without any evidence at all, you assume the journalist just made it up.
The fact is National wants your ages to fall, their leader has said as much. Are you going to vote for a pay cut?
Sam – Do you have the original notes from the author of the article? Um no.
Fuck that’s desperate – do we have the original notes for the Glenn interview? Of course not and only a desperate fool would try to claim that made a difference. I suggest “g” that you give up now before you make yourself look anymore stupid. Key has ‘fessed up about his real intentions. Suck it up. Oh and remember: a vote for National is a vote to cut your pay. At least the smarmy bastard has finally admitted it…
but John Key is such a nice man. and so rich.
i’m sure a wage cut from National will be swell!
What a surprise. I’d like to contribute that it seems Key is happy for us to get tax cuts, as long as they go to businesses and his rich mates.
Hey guys, cheer up – sounds like we’re getting some policy, right?
When will the 90 day bill, reduction/abolition of minimum wages and saleable annual leave policies be announced (it shouldn’t be hard, they printed it all up in 2005 didn’t they?)
Hands up who wants a wage cut?
Who will be voting for National and their policy of gutting your wages?
Wow, the Bay Report Whangarei, which refers to the National Party Leader as “My Keys’ in the second column. Hardly Woodward & Bernstein. The reporting is contradictory and poor, and most likely in error. But anything to deflect from the Owen Glenn scandal, right?
Oh, I’m paid far too much so are my neighbours – I noticed they bought a second-hand trampoline for their kids the other day – ostentatious bastards, they’ve got far too much discretionary income…
Those constant attacks on the wages of civil servants are finally starting to make some sense eh?
I never said he made it up. You just showed exactly what I was trying to explain. Extract 6 or 7 words from any book, article etc and you can easily find something which looks like it doesn’t fit, because it is taken out of context.
Hey Glenn – I’m sure National can clear this up but at the moment, as Mr. Key said about the Glenn case on morning report today, It’s murky at best… Nah, he said it alright.
g – The sentence is “we would love to see wages drop”, give it to me in a context that doesn’t mean “we would love to see wages drop”
“ostentatious bastards, they’ve got far too much discretionary income”
too bloody right mate – i mean who needs more stuff? they’re just being greedy.
a gin palace at Orewa and another half dozen properties around the country, in addition to the Parnell mansion, should be anough for anybody.
Glenn. These attempts to discredit the report are very weak. Key said “we would love to see wages drop”, that is that.
Now, if you are for wages dropping, be a man just say so, don’t make baseless smears on the journalist.
Okay G. John Key was talking to a business audience concerned about the call for higher wages (no employer likes having to pay their staff more) and he reassured them he was going to help them out with their ‘labour costs’, as National calls our wages.
From the article:
It’s common for politicians to let things slip in provincial papers when they think no one’s listening. Remember the Iraq war fiasco? That was reported in the Rodney Times of all places.
What I’m left wondering is how much Ms Brookes-Quan and her fellow employers gave National in secret donations last election? What did they get in exchange and how will we ever know?
I suspect that the wage drops would only be in certain areas and achieved through higher umemployment.
I suspect that the wage drops would only be in certain areas and achieved through higher umemployment.
So probably just vulnerable workers like cleaners, aged care workers, factory workers, young workers etc?
I guess there’s nothing to worry about then.
All that bullshit about the wage gap, about getting wages up, and we find out that he actually wants wages down!
Have to agree with you there Steve. And the worst thing of all is we know it’s not his wages or his mates’ wages he wants to cut, because they’re the kind of people who get investment income or employ staff and stand to gain from wage cuts. It’s the wages of ordinary New Zealanders like you and me he’s after and that’s disgusting.
Sam – Which wages? Drop in comparision to what?
E.g. If he was taking about specific industries, e.g. Technology changes can remove the need for some human processing in some industries. This would in turn reduce the wage bill for those employers (a drop in wages, after a capital cost for the change), which may also reduce the production cost, which would reduce the cost that consumers have to pay for that product.
g: desperate.
g- Key said he “wages”, not “wage costs” to go down. You need to try harder.
Have you noticed, g, how noone else is trying to defend this. It’s ‘cos Key’s been thoroughly caught out here. Keep trying though – it’s very entertaining.