EMA campaigns to keep Kiwisaver ripoffs

25 July, 2008

The Employers and Manufacturers Association has launched an advertising campaign attacking changes to Kiwisaver that would protect workers from getting ripped off by their employers.

The changes involve closing a Kiwisaver loophole that had allowed some employers to force their workers to pay the employer contribution to Kiwisaver while pocketing the government tax credit for themselves.

The EPMU has previously had to treat some employers' exploitation of the loophole as an industrial issue to ensure its members got the contribution the law originally intended.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the move means working New Zealanders who choose to enter Kiwisaver will not be disadvantaged.

"We've had employers try things like reducing wage increases and creating ‘superannuation allowances' in order to avoid paying their share of the Kiwisaver scheme.

"For employers to try to avoid their contributions when they are receiving considerable tax credits to cover that cost is simply dishonest and it means workers are effectively paying the employer's contribution as well as their own.

"We're surprised the EMA would spend money on a campaign to support this kind of rorting of workers and taxpayers.

"We've stopped employers exploiting these loopholes at the negotiating table on several occasions but are aware some non-union workers have not been so well protected."

The EPMU has campaigned industrially and politically for employer contributions from the outset of the Kiwisaver scheme.