And it is 3/3 against

All three major newspaper editorials have come out slamming Labour’s 1970s workplace policy. The Herald says:

It will not be easy to take the Labour Party seriously at this election if it comes up with any more policy like the one announced on Tuesday. To lift the level of wages in this country it proposes industry-wide wage orders.

Can you imagine it. The struggling corner dairy may suddenly be told that it has to pay its staff the same as the massive supermarket around the corner, even though it will force them to close.

The Labour Party would surely hesitate to propose this if there was much prospect of the party winning the election and having to put the policy into effect. Like one or two other planks in the party’s platform this year – notably the removal of GST on fresh fruit and vegetables – the policy is mainly interesting for what it says about Labour’s condition at present and how much younger members of the caucus have to learn.

Helen Clark would have never come out with such an unelectable policy. I agree with the Herald that the push for this has come from the newer MPs.

A strong economy needs to let employers prosper wherever they can and compete for the employees they need. Wages grow when employers need more people with valuable skills. A policy for productivity encourages more investment in productive activities, and better education to equip workers with adaptive skills. It does not put industries back in a straitjacket for unions’ sake. The country has been there.

It really is the Marty McFly policy.