Minimum wage increase slammed as ‘tiny’ by Labour, but it could’ve been lower
The Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety recommended to Cabinet an even lower minimum wage increase than what has been agreed to.
The government is already copping criticism from Labour over what the party called a “tiny” and “pathetic” 2 percent increase to the minimum wage, from $22.70 to $23.15.
This punch in the face to workers follows this hard right racist Government’s attack on worker rights by dumping the Fair Pay Agreements and giving bad bosses the right to sack before 90 days.
Inflation is 4.7%, this new hard right racist Government is only putting the mimic wage up 2%.
That is a pay rise beneath inflation!
As Orr continues to burn the economy to save the economy, it’s minimum wage workers who are paying for the price is job sacking and pitiful pay rises.
Minimum wage increases go straight into the local community and when so many of our people are hurting in those communities, a 2% rise is a slap in the face.
This is what we is now National/ACT and NZ First are in power.
This is who we have become.
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An arbitrary minium wage rise inposed by a government is wrong as it is not based on any increase in productivity so is an extra cost on employers .There should be guide lines worked out by experts as to what people need to oive on and strong unions to negotiate with bosses on behalf of workers based on the return to the employer. Wages should be based on effort so a hard worker can be rewarded for their effort as opposed to those that just show up and do the minimum amount of work to keep their job.
One of the reasons for our current high inflation was the large increase in minimum wages under tye last Labour government
You just resent workers getting their biggest payrises in 30 years. If you had your way, slavery would be brought back
You are talking shit Trevor. Very little emperical evidence to back your claim unless of couse you think what comes out of Nicola Willis’s mouth is emperical evidence.
My evidence comes from talks with my accountant when I employed staff. I always paid living wage not minimum but he broke down the extra cost it made to my bottom line.
Diddums, You clearly resent every single cent paid to your workers.
Then, in real terms, your company (and your income) is being subsidised by your workers. If your product can not be sold whilst paying a Living Wage it is economically unsustainable – do you expect the taxpayer to pick up the shortfall in your staff’s wages so as they can afford to live?
Time for a new accountant……
I paid the living wage as a minimum starter wage but my accountant is there to look after me his client .I was happy with what I made but when jobs are won by giving the lowest tender the wage rate is a vital part of the business getting work for their staff. That seems to be over looked by those that have never run a business. You can avoid being g a minimum wage earner by take time to train or study to give you more to offer than just your back.
That’s nothing but a race to a third world economy; the government must legislate for the Living Wage to be the minimum wage – something Labour was actually moving towards. Since Rogernomics we have been racing towards increasing poverty and all its ramifications. Individual business owners like yourself are as trapped by the system as the employees. Until legislation ensures a level playing field and a Living Wage society will suffer.
From your accountant? Are you serious? Rob Muldoon was an accountant, and look what he did to the NZ economy… And you quote yet another human adding machine as a credible advisor…
I’ve worked for, and with people like you, and it never ended well.. Not being into being exploited for the sake of making more profit..
You should be ashamed of yourself
Said no employer ever. Just from your comment Trev I know 100% that you did not employ and pay no one a living wage. Employers don’t care about the cost of doing business not one bit the way you say it. Hell if I could replace my entire payroll with robots I would.
Trevor, there are guidelines, its called a Living Wage.
Anyone working for less than a Living Wage is actually subsidising the companies product and is therefore akin to slavery.
If a company can not pay a Living Wage it should not be considered viable economically.
Inflation is caused by prices going up, when those prices increase then the margin will also increase for the producer/seller of those goods/services so there is enough extra income for employers to pay up to the inflation rate while still maintaining the same profit to income ratio as previously. Your dribble about productivity is just a smokescreen to cover your greed although I guess you want all the increase to stay with the employer. While there will be businesses that are no longer viable for a variety of reasons that is no excuse to prolong their existence & the owner’s income at the expense of poverty-level wages for any employees. A simple example shows this, an employer sells an item for $100 that has a 50% margin, $15 employee cost of sale so that leaves a 35% nett margin. Prices increase 10%, $110 sale, $55 margin, $15 same employee cost of sale so a 36.36% nett margin. with a 10% employee increase that makes a $16.50 employee cost, $38.50 nett margin so still a 35% margin for the employer.
Trevor how do you define hard work, does the office worker work twice as hard as the supermarket worker or the waitress in your favorite cafe. In the day the Welsh miners who worked underground earned less than their up market office personnel I wonder who worked the hardest then, the coal miners underground or the office workers in their nice warm safe offices. There is no longer piece work where people earned what they made with bonuses if they were lucky very lucky ,in those days the wages were a pittance anyway. So Trevor is your definition of a hard worker who deserves more money to compare apples with apples or apples with pears.
Country needs cuts…
15,000 govt workers need to go
All Govt departments to find cost savings
I’m surprised minimum wage even got 2% increase, it should be froze till 2026!
Labour left a fucking mess, spent money like drunken sailors, once again National have to reign in spending and belt tightening….it’s the same every time Labour leave when having been the Govt.
National will sort it all out as usual, then Labour get back in and spend like drunken sailors again, I wouldn’t mind if the money spent showed results, but never does (why do you think Labour abolish targets each time they win govt benches?)
Eg: $1.5 billion additional for mental health, Little surprised when asked why only 1 or 2 extra beds a year after the money spent….’i will look into it’ was his reply pfffft!
Lets just forget that the Clarke Labour government left office with our debt to GDP ratio the lowest in our history shall we?
Oh piss off. Workers deserve a payrises every single fucking year, given that they slog their guts only for rich pricks like you to take in high rents and generous power company dividends.
“National will sort out”. That’s code for under investment in everything and then rivers of bullshit explanations as to why people leave to places like Australia. We will have/are having the same thing with the police. There’s no doubt Labour were underwhelming and got some things wrong but you are talking absolute rubbish if you think National will sort things out. By the way National are not immune from removing targets either.
If things are such a mess then the responsible thing would be to not give tax cuts. Especially now that their bullshit ‘tax foreign buyers’ (which didn’t add up according to conservatives either) scheme is not happening.
National have frozen employment to Te Whatu Ora as part of cuts. Expect in about 6 to 9 years burnout, suicides and nurses leaving for Australia. Oh wait! National did that last time when in power. It took Labour 6 years to fix that absolute chaos left behind.
You want cuts to public services idiot hard Im right, good luck in a few years time if you need medical treatment, actually I believe you need it now.
You are totally wrong but with the various anatomical distortions you probably indulge in I guess that you never get the opportunity to learn how the world really works.
” Government says “Fuck the poor ”
One of the big achievements of the two previous Labour-led governments was regular, large increases to the minimum wage. These lifted incomes and helped drive wage growth for all workers, while incentivising employers to invest in productivity and technology rather than low-skilled production. Well, that’s definitely over now, with the government ordering a sub-inflation increase:
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2024/02/government-says-fuck-poor.html
And don’t let us forget that ACT wanted a minimum increase of only 1.3%, and MBIE wanted 4%, but Cabinet ‘talked the increase up to 2%!
Still a collective CoC “fuck the poor!”
All these conservatives/businesspeople seem to forget that people need money in order to BUY YOUR STUFF!
The minimum wage had gotten well ahead of the nation’s productivity under Labour, so, I was surprised they gave them anything.
Your okay though Andrew, you have enough to live on?
You really hate supermarket workers and call centre operators getting pay rises. I bet you put your rent up all the time without fail. Fucking rich prick.
But CEO salaries where well ahead of productivity figures.
Now now Peter, enough of the truth. Lets just stick with the spin.
Inflation and CPI are not the same thing.
CPI is a measure of some aspects of inflation, but since the 1980s it has been continuously refined so that now it reflects 50% of true inflation at best.
It is the number one reason for growing disparity in wealth, in that real wages fall, as wages are generally tied to CPI, and in that interest rates can stay low even as property prices and land values soar. The CPI has been doctored to favour asset values and punish the workers.
You only need to loo at that chart which indicates minimum wages are growing in real terms which is clearly patent nonsense.
Stop calling the CPI inflation and playing into the neolibs hands, call it for what is is, a polished turd used as a tool by the elite and corporates to impoverish workers.
Trevor
The minimum wage is a safeguard, there to ensure a basic share of the redistribution of profits.
Productivity is generally the employers responsibility.
Inequality is a growing global problem which won’t be addressed by lowering the minimum wage via inflation, nor by giving large tax cuts to the rich. This National Government clearly has no clue on how to get our economy back on track
One of the main reasons for our current high inflation was the massive global transfer of wealth to the rich, which they then ploughed into assets.
Some recommended reading and viewing for you, Trevor.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/12/13/wealthy-nearly-1-trillion-richer-since-covid-began-hickey/
https://youtu.be/ViY-zI3b5JQ?si=LWPxJxK_nnF5WOvn