The New Right Revolution: Business Profits Soar, Wages of Ordinary People Stagnate.

Well, the graph says it all really. According to the available data, the "Gross Operating Surplus" (profits) of New Zealand's businesses grew at an average rate of 10.65% between 1994 and 2001, while "Median Personal Income" (the income of the "average" New Zealander) grew at just 0.19% per annum between 1991 and 1996, and 2% between 1996 and 2001.


This massive reallocation of resources from the pockets of ordinary New Zealanders to primarily large corporations, which are in many cases foreign owned, was a direct result of the National Party's Employment Contracts Act, which saw wage increase levels plummet, and profits soar.

Labour has closed the gap between growth in corporate profits (average growth of 5.1% between 1999 and 2005) and growth in the incomes of ordinary people (average growth of 3.24% between 1999 and 2006), but they're still out of balance. To put more money in the pockets of ordinary New Zealanders, and less in the pockets of foreign owned corporations, Labour needs to keep on increasing the strength of work rights legislation, particularly in the areas of minimum wage, and union bargaining strength.

Certainly, we don't need National's proposed Industrial Relations Legislation, which will weaken work rights, driving wages down, and corporate profits up.