Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Unions are calling for political parties to bring electricity generators back into public ownership.
The proposal from the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) would see the dividends the government gets as a major shareholder of the generator-retailers - or gen-tailers - used to fully buy the companies back over time.
"The faster that the gentailers distribute dividends, the faster those firms will come back into public hands," a proposal document states.
The CTU also called on the government to use its power as a major shareholder to direct the gentailers to support wider economy and network resilience.
CTU president Richard Wagstaff said partial privatisation of the energy system and treating the market as a source of profit had led to the point where manufacturers were closing businesses.
He said the electricity market should instead be treated as a public utility that served the interests of workers.
"They've heard for years and years and years that the market's going to solve their problems, and it clearly hasn't. We're calling time on it, really," he said.
"We're saying a fundamentally different approach is required. We think there is a political awakening in terms of this issue. It is, it's on everyone's radar, and there are good solutions. We just need to turn to them instead of continually doing what we've done before."
Council of Trade Unions economist and policy director Craig Renney. Photo: Stuff / ROBERT KITCHIN
CTU economist and policy director Craig Renney - who is also on Labour's policy council - said the situation with power companies now was similar to what had happened to the rail networks.
"We spent 30 years consistently underinvesting in rail in New Zealand. Then we privatised and hoped for the best. That failed. We had to bring it back into public ownership, and we're having to reinvest to get it off the ground.
"We're facing exactly the same problem with electricity in New Zealand, we spent a decade or more underinvesting in electricity generation - clean, renewable energy generation in New Zealand, the problems we face are a consequences of those under investment."
The unions' proposal document points to what the CTU called a "dearth of actual action" since the election.
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