Mike Treen

This is a chance in a generation to do the right thing to those who have been so cruelly exploited and abused by the state as well as private employers.

In the current crisis we have the absurd situation of the government-owned companies continuing to behave like profit-maximising private companies and sacking as many workers as they think will help achieve that goal.

The Green Party has done us all a favour by bringing the issue of wealth taxes and improved income support for those not working onto the agenda.

In an interview with the Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway on Radio NZ last week it became clear that the entire country is now hostage to a bottleneck in the managed isolation/quarantine system that means only 250 people a day can be allowed into New Zealand.

Working people in Aotearoa New Zealand will be hit by a Tsunami of layoffs over the next few months like has never been seen before in this country.

I often get caught by surprise at the depth of racism in our society.

This means anyone who becomes unemployed in the next 12 weeks will refuse any part time work offered to them because they will lose the new payment. This is obviously supid so we hope will be changed in the future to allow some income on top of what they get as a tax-free payment.

The government’s new Covid Income Relief payment is a welcome step forward. The payments are for 12 weeks from June 8 when the current wage subsidy stops for most employees.

Unite Union wants to know why the most desperate sectors in New Zealand have been ignored in the budget, and wants a new package of support released soon