So what you’re saying, Gosman, is that marginal businesses can only exist by paying their employees low wages?! Workers are subsidising their employers?

That would be bad enough.

But the fact that many of these businesses show healthy profits and returns to shareholders kind of demonstrates the crock of shit you’re telling us.

At least one hospitality company boasted in a press release just last year;

It has enjoyed strong periods of growth and profitability driven by a management team with a proven track record of developing and sustaining great, long lasting concepts within the hospitality sector.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1411/S01168/veritas-completes-acquisition-of-better-bar-company-group.htm

The profits are there. They’re simply siphoned off to shareholders instead of rewarding the workers who generated that income.

Restaurant Brands New Zealand, which operates fast food chains through out the country, rose 2.9% to $3.52. Government figures out today showed kiwi spending on hospitality using their credit and debit cards increased 0.3% to $746 million in the month of September.

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/nz-shares-rise-investors-chase-yield-6102704

So can your business-friendly propaganda Gosman. It’s a fairy tale only someone as naive as you could believe.

That argument is so flawed – if they can’t pay a decent wage then they shouldn’t be in business.
Look at the multinational retail chains, the super profitable supermarkets, fast food outlets – they make a massive profit by screwing down their workers for wage and their suppliers for price.
Once these guys start paying a decent wage, the balance will come – the profits will have to reduce, the fat cats at the top will have to go from $800,000 p/a to $600,000 p/a – diddums.
In the case of small businesses – if they can’t balance the books paying a living wage to their staff, they need to have a bit of a rejig with their figures – necessity is the mother of invention

I know a guy who works for a prominent NZ dry cleaner company, he started having serious balance issues and found he was having trouble walking straight. He took two weeks off work using his annual leave. They found one of the dry cleaning machines which uses a really nasty chemical called ‘perc’ was leaking, it causes nervous system problems and is a carcinogenic. Now he has had a brain scan and has acc forms for his employers to fill in which he is afraid to do give them as they might find a reason to sack him. A pregnant woman worked in the factory while this machine was leaking, all i know is her baby wasn’t growing in the womb as per normal. This chemical dry cleaner ‘perc’ is soon to be banned in America but apparently no one gives a fuck about dry cleaning workers in NZ.

http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/16737-work-has-fewer-%e2%80%9chealth-benefits%e2%80%9d-than-mansel-aylward-and-other-so-called-experts-claim-it-can-cause-serious-harm/

http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/16685-bill-english-takes-lessons-from-work-will-set-you-free-propagandists/

http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/16092-work-ability-assessments-done-for-work-and-income-%E2%80%93-partly-following-acc%E2%80%99s-approach-a-revealing-fact-study/

Indeed, maybe you can now count yourself “lucky” to have a job that gives you some new freedoms, that is not the kind of bottom end crap job you so describe. For most that have to go to WINZ and sign up with them, the realities look rather gloomy.

Any job, no matter how marginal and low paid, will be considered “suitable”, as Aunti Paula wanted it to be. Her replacement Minister now in charge of MSD is likely to stick to the Nats’ gun, and continue with the hideous attack on the dignity and well-being of the poorest in society, even sick and disabled are now increasingly pressured into getting work on the competitive open market.

More info re all this can also be found on a small website called ‘nzsocialjusticeblog2013’ (Google or Bing it).

The fight must go on, also in this just started new year 2015!

Love seeing you here again, I love you, and have to agree with your quote here.

“In this capitalist system is it always profit before people.”

The Global elite don’t have any conscious today and just rule with “authority” and force the citizenry to a never ending barrage of control techniques like using the over used word of “compliance” in every part of our lives now days.

You are worthy of being our Minister of Social Development.

Love seeing you here again, I love you, and have to agree with your quote here.

“In this capitalist system is it always profit before people.”

The Global elite don’t have any conscience today and just rule with “authority” and force the citizenry to a never ending barrage of control techniques like using the over used word of “compliance” in every part of our lives now days.

You are worthy of being our Minister of Social Development.

The manager was known to be a bully to the men,…they were cowed pretty much…threats of dismissal a regularity for trivial infractions. So they complied. Well,…I grew up in the era of union award rates and at least the attempt to have a bit of respect.

So it was kinda hard to truck some arsehole who wanted to be the Alpha dog. About 6 foot 3” tall, and a rugby coach.

One day…as I hadn’t been at the depo for a month,and had been employed there as long he said ”well its good to put a face to the name ” , shook my hand …and…with a vise grip ,starin at me,…asked if I wanted to wrestle. Smiling I said ”sure”.

What he didn’t know is Ive done years and years of Japanese jujutsu. So I put him in a hammerlock (arm bent up behind his back )….he was kinda quiet after that and the lads had a good laugh. At the time they didn’t know where to look .

Now in no way should we have to do that sort of thing (I did because I could tell it was all just bluster on his part ) and furthermore no one should even have to be put in that position. And no way should people in this country have to be stripped of their basic dignity.

That’s bullying.

And there’s far too many of these sorts of bully boy characters floating around these days thinking they can get away with treating people like shit. And most of em hide behind dubious ‘laws’ they think can twist to treat people like slaves.

The way I view it, – if your one of these, – and paying workers a non livable wage on a zero hour contract , your nothing more than a leeching , subsidized incompetent bum who shouldn’t deserve to be enabled to stay in business.

There’s far too many of these corporate welfare bludgers sucking on the public goodwill and ripping workers off with the total blessing of this neo liberal trougher govt.

After rereading my post & i used the word “they” instead of “we” as i am part of the lower socio-economic grouping so more appropriately it’s “we”.