Hosking on unions wanting national awards

Mike Hosking writes:

But back to the unions and this claim for national wages.

As I understand the thinking, it would mean if you’re a bus driver or box builder you would be paid the same no matter where you work or who for.

I suppose I admire the cheek.

I guess in election year everyone is entitled to have a go at pushing a barrow, even if the barrow comes from 1971.

But the concept that as an employer of bus drivers or box makers you get told what you can pay is so absurd I’m surprised the perpetrators of the crime can argue it with a straight face.

Making it worse, it is reported Andrew Little likes the idea, mind you given his union credentials perhaps that should not be a surprise.

This would be the ultimate payback for the unions making Little leader – a return to the 1970s style national awards where the Government sets pay rates across entire industries.

But I would have thought having stepped into the new role of Opposition leader with the task of dragging your party into the real, if not modern, world, you might want to leave a few of the more fringe ideas behind.

What Labour must do this year is look credible, and if they think nationalising wages is credible then we can assume they’ve been taking tips from Jeremy Corbyn, who by the way will give them all the food for thought they could ever possibly want on June 8 by leading his party to a broad-based collapse based on the fact he fails to accept communism isn’t a vote-getter.

The only countries that vote for socialism are those that have never had it!

Wages are based on a variety of circumstances, and the main one isn’t what the Government or unions tell you to pay.

It’s location, product, profit margin, market size, competitiveness, experience, labour availability, the economy, the list goes on.

Exactly.