Workers who lose their jobs could get 80 percent of their usual salary for up to seven months, under a proposed new government scheme.
The social unemployment insurance scheme has been designed in partnership with Business New Zealand and the Council of Trade Unions.
Employers and employees would each be taxed at 1.39 percent.
The scheme's already being criticised: the National Party says it'll worsen the cost of living; meanwhile the Green Party and anti-poverty campaigners say it entrenches a two-tier welfare system -- and shows that benefits need to be increased.
The Council of Trade Unions' President Richard Wagstaff joins Māni Dunlop to discuss the scheme
