Real wages remain at the level of the mid 1970s. In the face of economic crisis, monopoly capitalism has always tried to put the burden of the crisis onto the shoulders of working people. It has tried wage freezes, social contracts, cuts in benefits, increases in taxation, cuts in expenditure on health and education, and handouts to business. Impoverishment of the Working Class For working people the future is less and less certain. 200,000 people are out of work.
Wages fall or remain stagnant while hours increase and working conditions deteriorate.
Every day in Aotearoa a worker is killed in a work accident. Hundreds of others are dying slowly of industrial diseases or are mutilated for life. More than 40,000 people are homeless, overcrowded in spare rooms, caravans or living in cars. Hundreds of children live in stormwater pipes seeking solace in a bag of glue. 3,000 people attempt suicide each year.