Interest is building in a protest against the welfare reforms, at Paula
Bennett’s Office, 429 Great North Rd, Henderson, at 6.45 pm, Thursday 15 August ;
called by Unite Waitemata.
Paula Bennett will be addressing a public
meeting about “Moving Waitakere Forward.”
“We think the best way for Waitakere to
move forward is to remove Paula Bennett from office” said Janet Robin,
President of Unite Waitemata, which is a branch of the Unite Union.
“Unite is a union for low paid workers and
beneficiaries,” said Ms Robin.
“The real purpose of the benefit reforms is
to make everybody compete on the labour market for scarce jobs, which will
bring down wages. This helps employers
increase their falling profits.” said Ms Robin.
“That’s why workers and beneficiaries need
to unite against benefit cuts and wage cuts.”
“The Government is more interested in
corporate welfare than social welfare “, said Ms Robin.
“WINZ punitive sanctions for such small
things as being five minutes late for an appointment, mean that many people are
just giving up trying to get a benefit at all, which is what WINZ wants.” she
said.
“The less people on the benefit; the more
the government saves money.”
“The government is focussing on getting the
sick and disabled, and single parents, off benefits, because that is where the
biggest welfare budget is”, she said.
“They plan to save more than a billion dollars by taking benefits off
single parents and the sick, who are the people who need them the most” she
said.
“With no jobs out there, it is hypocritical
and ridiculous to pretend that WINZ really wants to help people get jobs.”
“If
that is really their intention, why doesn’t the government create jobs?” she
asked.
“Paula Bennett’s supposed caring for children
suffering from violence is hypocritical when she is prepared to take half a
benefit off a beneficiary family for something as trivial as not attending a
doctor’s appointment.”
“This contravenes the United Nations Rights
of the child, for the necessities of
life; as obviously a child cannot be supported on half a benefit.”
“The biggest hypocrisy of all is the fact
the Paula Bennett was on the DPB, was helped to get a deposit for her first
home, and received a Training Incentive
Allowance which helped her to study full time at tertiary level and eventually
to get the career she now has. Yet she
has destroyed all these possibilities for other beneficiaries now.”
Keith
09 8369104
or email
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