The Latest Thoughts.
Its after midnight (a famous phrase) but its just a hard bite to go to bed right now so I'm going to throw ten cents into the arena of thought this late at night.
The first comes by way of the latest hike/increase in the minimum wage. 25 cents is 25 cents. But I think here there are a couple thoughts worth putting out there that some might have missed in the first place.
I ask...is it the governments role to tell employers how much to pay staff? I mean, the minimum wage is now at $12.75 an hour, but I have to stress, that is the minimum wage. Employers cannot pay any less than that, but is it the governments fault if they pay only around 50c more an hour?
We all know we are a taxed and or levied to death nation and some taxes are better and have more application than others. Some are a tax for the sake of being a tax...other taxes are hidden as levies. Problem is there are too many of them and they impact on those who are at the minimum end. A proposal like the increase in GST will not help matters at all, in fact it would make it worse.
But like I said...is it the governments fault employers choose to be close to the minimum? Maybe...but what about the employers responsibility to be fair to their employees. A fair days work for a fair days pay...maybe its only a dream...but it beats making small business go broke or making them lay people off if the minimum wage was thrown up to the demanded figure of $15. Small businesses would drop like flies in a black flag commercial and more and more people would be redundant.
My first tutoring job was as a part time tutor assistant 12 hours a week and at a time where the minimum wage was $9 or so, I was paid $12. That was a choice my employer made to pay me more than the minimum. I appreciated that from them and worked hard for my hours...which were eventually increased to 20 hours. I wasn't highly qualified, but I was able to do the job.
So I put some of that angst back on the employer. They cant pay any lower than the minimum wage, but they can pay higher. Some/most choose not too, but that is their choice. Blanket changing it to $15 won't solve all the problems.
I started off by saying the first, but I will leave my second thoughts to another time.
The first comes by way of the latest hike/increase in the minimum wage. 25 cents is 25 cents. But I think here there are a couple thoughts worth putting out there that some might have missed in the first place.
I ask...is it the governments role to tell employers how much to pay staff? I mean, the minimum wage is now at $12.75 an hour, but I have to stress, that is the minimum wage. Employers cannot pay any less than that, but is it the governments fault if they pay only around 50c more an hour?
We all know we are a taxed and or levied to death nation and some taxes are better and have more application than others. Some are a tax for the sake of being a tax...other taxes are hidden as levies. Problem is there are too many of them and they impact on those who are at the minimum end. A proposal like the increase in GST will not help matters at all, in fact it would make it worse.
But like I said...is it the governments fault employers choose to be close to the minimum? Maybe...but what about the employers responsibility to be fair to their employees. A fair days work for a fair days pay...maybe its only a dream...but it beats making small business go broke or making them lay people off if the minimum wage was thrown up to the demanded figure of $15. Small businesses would drop like flies in a black flag commercial and more and more people would be redundant.
My first tutoring job was as a part time tutor assistant 12 hours a week and at a time where the minimum wage was $9 or so, I was paid $12. That was a choice my employer made to pay me more than the minimum. I appreciated that from them and worked hard for my hours...which were eventually increased to 20 hours. I wasn't highly qualified, but I was able to do the job.
So I put some of that angst back on the employer. They cant pay any lower than the minimum wage, but they can pay higher. Some/most choose not too, but that is their choice. Blanket changing it to $15 won't solve all the problems.
I started off by saying the first, but I will leave my second thoughts to another time.
Labels: employee welfare, Minimum wage, National Party
posted by Wiremu Bayliss at
12:15 am
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