Workers 1, Bridges 0: Minimum Wage Rise to Go Ahead
Labour have confirmed that they will lift the minimum adult wage on April 1st. This is great news for workers and SME’s!
minimum wage
Living wage rises to $20.20 an hour
The living wage rises, and an odd argument for abolishing the minimum wage.
Minimum wage increase doesn’t meet real costs (the CPI is broken)
Any increase in the minimum wage is better than nothing, but National’s increases have not kept pace with the real cost increases (notably housing) faced by low income earners. That is why we are seeing the rise of the working poor, and increases in homelessness and poverty.
The minimum wage is not a living wage
Credit where it’s due for an increase in the minimum wage – but the gap between that and a living wage keeps growing…
The hairdressers of Levin and Foxton
John Key reckons increasing the minimum wage would hurt “the hairdressers in Levin or Foxton”. So Rob McCann, Labour’s candidate for Ōtaki, asked one how she felt about that.
The only way National know to grow the economy
On Firstline this morning, John Key tried to compare National’s and Labour’s policies by saying “You can’t grow the economy when you restrict labour laws.” It’s nonsense, and it’s scary.
Labour – Raise the minimum wage
Labour is promising to raise the minimum wage to $16.25. It’s the right thing to do. And it doesn’t cost jobs.
Mary Poppins on a minimum wage!
Mary Poppins quitting because she isn’t being paid enough to survive on in the magical nanny trade. I guess the peasants just aren’t prepared to starve as blindly as they did in the service of their ‘betters’ as they did in Edwardian era.
It is also quite funny…
Derisory minimum wage
The minimum wage should be at least $15 per hour. A living wage is estimated at $18.40 per hour. So what have the Nats done? Raised the minimum wage by $0.25 per hour to $13.75. It’s a derisory increase. Even their own supporters think so.
Irony overload as English calls some bosses greedy
Irony meters everywhere pegged their meters as Bill English accused some bosses of being “greedy”, and not paying their staff enough. Hey Double Dipton – those greedy bosses? – they’re just following your example…
The race to the bottom
Youth rates are an admission of economic failure.
Banks and Dunne vote down minimum wage
David Clark’s private member’s Bill to increase the minimum wage was voted down 61 to 59 last night. Shame on John Banks and Peter Dunne.
Clark on the minimum wage
David Clark’s opinion piece in The Herald – “The PM’s cleaner deserves more pay” – makes for welcome reading…
Congrats on raising the minimum wage John
Shame you couldn’t raise it to a living one though. The working poor will appreciate the extra $1000 per year coming this April, but it still won’t cover their bills…
Law firm sets out business wish list
Law firm Chapman Tripp has taken it upon itself to summarise the business community’s expectations for National’s second term. Back to youth rates, and that’s just for starters.
Treasury on the minimum wage
Labour want to raise the minimum wage to $15. The Nats say that will cost jobs (they want to lower the minimum wage instead). Documents obtained by 3 News show that Treasury think the Nats are wrong. A vote for increasing the minimum wage will not cost jobs.
How to put half a billion into working families’ pockets
I/S at No Right Turn has done more excellent work. He’s revealed the official advice Kate Wilkinson was given on the minimum wage. The advice says there is a trade-off between jobs and the minimum wage, but even a rise to $15 an hour would cause an increase wages for low-income earners well above the cost in jobs.
Compare and contrast
Idiot/Savant at No Right Turn compares the bailout of SCF investors with the Nats’ threat to change the law to deny some workers the minimum wage.
25c slap in the face
So John Key thinks that a 1.9% increase in pay will cover 4% inflation, and that’s all minimum wage workers are going to get. That 25c/hour won’t add up to a litre of milk at the end of the day, let along a block of cheese at the end of the week. A person on minimum wage will now get $437.24/week after tax, whilst JK gave himself over $1000 extra per week in tax cut.
Minimum wage crunch time
John Key says that he can’t increase the minimum wage by a decent amount. The excuse this time round is that a decent increase will destroy jobs. Well, let’s check that out a little bit. Is it really true that lifting the minimum wages destroys jobs? If it is, do the benefits outweigh the gains? And what about the cost of letting wages fall?
Minimum wage review
When the government, eventually, gets back from its month-long holiday, it needs to review the minimum wage. To keep up with inflation, the increase needs to be at least 50 cents an hour to $13.25. If we want to catch Australia, we should copy them and lift it to $15.
No love for workers, no quarter from National
Protests are taking place around the country today against the National Government’s miserable 25 cent increase to the minimum wage.
Minimum standards
Year of the wolf?
I really thought the rumour that the minimum wage would only rise by 25c had been put out by the government to make […]
Minimum wage: what will it be?
The Government is set to announce its decision on the annual adjustment to the minimum wage today. So what’s it going to be? […]
$15 min wage march tonight
The Campaign for a Living Wage will be taking to the streets of Auckland’s CBD tonight to demand a minimum wage of 15 […]
$15 minimum wage, it’s only fair
The campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage is gathering pace. Initially, Unite kind of set out on their own on this […]
Key on wages
Key’s speech to the CTU today showed an interesting inight into how he thinks you lift wages. NZPA reports: He said it was […]
Strawman
I’m always amazed at the intellectual hoops the neoliberal right will jump through to try and deny low income workers minimum wage increases. […]
Govt set to deny low-paid workers basic rights
The National government couldn’t hold off democracy forever, so today we are graced with the first members’ day of the new term. And […]
Employer opposes wage increases – shock!
Yesterday I expressed concern about Unite’s referendum on indexing the minimum wage to two-thirds of the average wage on practical grounds while strongly […]
Minimum wage rise a small but important victory for the Left
Great, through concerted pressure the Left managed to force a 9-cent an hour real increase in the minimum wage from National/ACT. A 9 cent an […]
On the minimum wage referendum
The Unite Union has reacted to the Government’s miserly adjustment to the minimum wage by initiating a referendum on tying the minimum wage […]
More than words
I see the Maori Party has come out saying the increase in the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour isn’t enough, and that […]
Labour calls for $13 minimum wage
Phil Goff has come out strongly in anticipation of today’s minimum wage announcement from the Government with a call for an immediate increase […]
Who cares if it’s just PR?
There is a rumour in the Dom Post and the Herald that the minimum wage will be announced today and the Nats are […]