Every Xmas or long weekend since 2003, when Labour reintroduced minimum pay of time and a half for working on a public holiday the same old stories are wheeled out as news.
Today TVNZ is running the headline “Holiday law change leaves workers with less money”.
The story is based on the views of right-wing Auckland Councillor Cameron Brewer who says that more businesses are opting to keep their doors closed over Christmas and their staff home, and therefore “the legislation is actually forcing holidays on staff and cutting their pay.”
No it’s not. What’s happening is the workers are getting a paid public holiday off like many other New Zealanders. They’re not losing any pay at all. They may be missing out on a bit of half time extra pay, but for most restaurant and retail workers who are on near to minimum wage, the amount would be relatively small. Many people would rather spend the public holidays with their friends and families, as has been confirmed time and again when some bright politician has tried to liberate shop trading laws for Easter Sunday.
Brewer may be right that some restaurants are keeping their doors closed over the holiday period. That’s fine and it’s up to them if they want to take the risk of losing patronage to other restaurants. Many that do open are charging a surcharge, which continues to upset some people. It used to wind me up too, particularly in places where there was an obviously deliberate anti-Labour campaign with a sign saying “Don’t blame me for the surcharge, blame Helen Clark.”
But I’m surprised to find myself agreeing with Steve McKenzie from the Restaurant Association in his piece in the NZ Herald today on “why surcharges are not newsworthy.“
The Restaurant Association seem to have given up attacking the government – perhaps it’s because “their” government shows no sign of removing the time and a half for working public holidays, even although they’ve messed with other entitlements in the Holidays Act.
Paying extra pay for working a public holiday isn’t newsworthy either, so I wish we could just get over the fact that like most other comparable countries, we decided it was fair to pay people extra who have to work on public holidays.
Agreed Darien, workers are not slaves to be used by employers as if they are their property!
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Brewer is well known as the motormouth of rentaquotes. Theres bound to be a press release of his claiming that Labour is anti Christmas or some such, or that Mayor Brown is stopping Obama from visiting Auckland.
Is really paying more at an overpriced place like Soul the biggest worry for NZers-
Why do we observe Pagan/Christian holidays in the first place?
Surely this would make all the non-Christian new immigrants that we have in New Zealand feel excluded from our society.
I used to work with Cameron many years ago and know for a fact that he will say literally ANYTHING to keep himself in the headlines. He moreorless admitted as much to me on one occasion when he’d appeared on the TV news complaining about the state of Newmarket footpaths. Of course the fact that Dick Hubbard happened to be the mayor at the time had nothing to do with his complaint (yeah right). I teased him about his faux outrage on behalf of senior citizens, and he said to me with a twinkle in his eye, “Well, you’ve got to say these things don’t you?”. On some levels I like him as a person because he is intelligent and has a mischievous sense of humour. But he is completely redundant of any true morality or concern for ordinary people. I imagine that John Banks bankrolled his campaign to get elected. Watch this space, he’s going to be around for a long time. Sigh.
plutonian – well one could argue the same for western christians going to live in muslim countries!
Welcome to Silly Season. Something HAS to be written to fill the space between the huge New Years Sale full page adverts. Sometimes I wonder why NZ’s newspapers don’t just go to 16 pages with pages full of crosswords and Sudokus, World News (Schadenfreudian stories of natural disasters in the Northern hemisphere) from the wires, and cricket. I’d pay for that.
As regards surcharges, there is now no reasonable justification whatsoever for charging customers more on stat holidays. It may have been reasonable in the 2003 and 2004 financial years, when the legislation had just passed and some small businesses may not have factored the higher cost of wage payments on these days in to their accounts.
But seven years have now passed. These days, if a business doesn’t know how to include stat holiday wages into the numerous predictable fixed costs, they don’t deserve to be in business.
Exactly, it’s a small price to pay at the holiday season!
Just a shame that this legislation `killed’ after school, weekend and holiday jobs for students. Denying them valuable life skills and work experience.
Not mention denying ordinary New Zealanders of a coffe or lunch at a reasonable every day cost.
All on an ideological, union driven frenzy.
ooops – should have included `combined with the minimum wage’ after legislation in the first line.
Well the extra charges are no different to tipping during the year. Darien, as you think wait staff pay is so low, no doubt you would supplement their pay by heavy tipping during the year so you wouldnt notice a differnce , or are you all talk in that regard and dont your income including from the tax cuts you moan about to support such staff?
It’s not like a public holiday is a suprise for business owners that they couldn’t see coming. Any business that can’t pay time & 1/2 on such a day is not being properly managed in the first place.
Brewers faux outrage on behalf of staff is laughable. I work in retail and have worked nearly every stat holiday this christmas and new year period. While my Family and friends have enjoyed the time off, I’ve been working. I, like many of my colleagues, would love to spend time with our families, especially those of us with children. Time & 1/2 is compensation for that. Take that away, and why do I work those days?
I have trouble getting my head around some folks who chide low income people for not somehow making themselves into higher income people… then want to make them even lower paid?
pdm
Every school age person I know over 14 who wants a holiday job has one.
Tracey you may be right but – from 2001 until May 2009 my wife managed a branch of a national chain. Her store employed up to 5 school pupils at any one time and probably 15 or so through a year – until the minimum wage and holiday laws changed.
From then on as they left the HO directive was to replace them with adults because they were more reliable which was true. The opportunity was and remains lost.
So the point is that your wife employed children on cheap rates of pay, even though it was an accepted fact that adults were better employees?
Dry your crocodile tears over kids holiday jobs and get outraged that your missus and her company knowingly and willfully offered, by their own admission, a sub par service, no doubt for the same cost to the consumer.
And since when did Schoolkids have to live on a part time job, as it was most of them would have been – who you know- type of employees.
Actually the new system had provided better jobs for those who need them. Schoolkids earning party money isnt one of them
I love how the article appears to be a copy and paste of a press release. What great journalists we have.
Wonder if the reporter looked at the legislation, or talked to anyone who may have a critique of Brewer’s viewpoint.
When did Stuff interview Mackenzie because this is what he said to them.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4511785/Repeal-Holidays-Act-says-business-spokesman
…
“Restaurant Association chief executive Steve Mackenzie agrees many cafes and restaurants are forced to impose a surcharge to stay afloat.
“The surcharge for some people is a necessity. It’s something they need to apply. If they don’t, they might simply go out of business.” …
“From then on as they left the HO directive was to replace them with adults because they were more reliable which was true. ” Isnt that a good thing though pdm? Perhaps some of them were between jobs, and might have had to make use of the dole, until this opportunity arose?
Oh, and on this point I was talking with a nurse who has been employed in innoculation services. She and a few of her colleagues, all over 60 were told their contracts would not be renewed, they would be making way for younger people. So, Mr Barsh et al want to raise the retirement level to 67 but here are people blatantly being set aside for younger.
As an aside, she is one of only a handful of people in her area who are very competent at giving injections. She has had 4 people begin under her in 2010, the most injections any of them had administered before taking up a full time position as injectors, was 20.
This is not a learning position but a hit the ground running position.
She claims nurses graduating to day are not trained in giving injections.
Nicola you have pegged the difference in your post. We have lots of reporters,w ho report on the press releases of their choice and journalists who are investigators.
“Workers are not slaves to be used by employers as if they are their property!” Oh but they are Spud, if the actions of the boss of my co-worker’s boyfriend are anything to go by. He calls him up on Monday (a day that the restaurant that he works in is normally closed) and says “We’re opening at 12. You’ve got an hour to get here”. Not “Can you work today, I’ve decided to open?” but “You are working”. This guy was sorting out some pretty important stuff at the time, but because of his tosser of a boss he had to drop it all.
“Many people would rather spend the public holidays with their friends and families” Too right – over the last few weeks the only days off I’ve been getting have been when the boss has decided to close the restaurant that I work at (eg over Christmas). I’m certainly not complaining – I’m glad of the work while I’ve got the opportunity – (tourists won’t be here forever) but it’s good to have the days off when they do come. pdm , to disprove your claim further (and add to what Tracey was saying), I’ve been working on and off at this restaurant since I was 15 (I’m 18 now). Fairly sure opportunities for work weren’t completely killed off for me by this legislation.
why do I work those days?
Because you have a job to do?
@logie97 : Steve McKenzie wasn’t interviewed by Stuff as far as I can tell; the article is the link I have provided from the NZ Herald. It’s not him saying the legislation should be repealed : it’s Brewer.
@ironswn : I am happy to pay well for meals when the staff are getting paid properly. Tipping would not fix the problem for the thousands of low paid workers in the retail and hospitality industries, and nor would I ever want to see us like America – where tipping is the only way workers can make a fair living – and in fact, some work for tips only – it’s fine in the best of restaurants, but very precarious elsewhere, and should never replace the requirement for employers to pay decent wages.
Simon and SlightyRighty make good points about running a business, the usual suspects continue to complain about minimum wage et al and I really appreciate hearing from others about your experiences and views.
For those of you who have been working the Stats, make sure you pin down when you can take the lieu day and do it before 1 April when the Holidays Amendment Act becomes law; after that your boss will be able to decide when you should take it.
But dont many of the enterprises rely on the extra income they get from the public holidays. If it was an ordinary day, I feel sure that the businesses wouldnt make a lot of money and the only reason they do is because of the extra trade.
If the workers had a choice many of them would rather stay at home and enjoy their families rather than make a few extra dollars.. Realistically, if you look at it, if one person on minimum wage works in a cafe over the lunch period for 3 hours they will get an extra $19.13 at half time and a day worth $38.75 if they are on minimum wage. What is 10% extra on all of the extra trade worth? A lot more than that I think. Its called slamming the workers and making huge monetary gain at the same time.
Cameron Brewer wants to take a holiday – YOURS.
Seriously though, it doesn’t take a Chartered Accountant to factor in time-and-a-half, just by spreading it right across the financial year with a spreadsheet.
@ Darien Fenton
I believe it’s the sort of rhetoric you used in your last paragraph, the anti-management sentiment that you’re trying to foster that keeps Labour 20 points down in the polls. No-one has any time anymore for borderline Marxist comments about the bourgeoisie and those who control the means of production. Perhaps if you took some steps that show you are in favour of creating more jobs, like supporting the mining project, rather that keeping jobs as a side-issue to social welfare, the poor, the environment, rail loops and beaches of national irrelevance you might do better as a worker’s party. Especially considering that the Labour party was born of west coast miners.
I don’t like holiday surcharges, but what has puzzled me is the belief of some, including some media, that because Monday and Tuesday were public holidays (because Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and the 1st and 2nd of January fell on the weekend), Saturday and Sunday were not.
For workers who worked on the weekend and who normally would have done so, it is a public holiday for them and they would have been entitled to time and a half accordingly.
So a business could have to pay time and a half to some employees on each of Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
As much as I dislike holiday surcharges, it is not “double dipping” to charge a holiday surcharge for Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday if you follow the reasoning that such surcharges are to cover the extra entitlements due to employees in respect of those days.
All that aside, I do not know why a business manager might think they cannot spread the cost over the whole year.
I had to work on all four of the holidays and I would rather have had them off to relax and be with family.
gee Capital you claim anti-management Marxist rhetoric in these last paragraphs – this “Paying extra pay for working a public holiday isn’t newsworthy either, so I wish we could just get over the fact that like most other comparable countries, we decided it was fair to pay people extra who have to work on public holidays” or this “For those of you who have been working the Stats, make sure you pin down when you can take the lieu day and do it before 1 April when the Holidays Amendment Act becomes law; after that your boss will be able to decide when you should take it.”
You’re imaginig things.
But your advice that Labour should neglect the environment, the poor and working conditions, as not being the concerns of a true workers party, is priceless. Sounds like you believe that another party is the true workers party because they sacrifice the environment, the poor and the rights of workers … to maximum profit to capital, but not to increase wages to workers.
@Darien.
and I provided the link for the Stuff quote. MacKenzie was “Quoted” by Stuff. I was simply drawing attention to what appeared to be contradictory moods from MacKenzie. The article he appends his name to in the Herald is obviously his. The quote in Stuff may not be his in which case the Fairfax group had a slant they wanted to make and have been selective in their quoting of MacKenzie to support their bias…
Capital, what are you studying at University?
As a former manager of pizza shops for a major chain and also managing a burger bar for a chain as well I have hired workers from the age of 14 (with their parents consent) to 17 I found out a couple of things that were interesting.
1: Girls are better than Boys.
I only ever had to fire one teen and it was a Boy of 16 into Cars and annoying the girls and partying with his mates. So he was unreliable never ringing in or anything.
With girls yes they still party. But they will either go out after work or give me notice of said event so i or they could arrange a replacement. Also i found that Girls were more polite, more honest, had cleaner habits. They all seemed to have a plan for their money unlike the boys who were always broke.
Anyway so when the Minimum wage came in it was about 12.50 to start but that was for 16 and over. There wasn’t really anything set in concrete for anyone younger and there still is not.
http://www.ers.dol.govt.nz/pay/minimum.html
But the point is that some of our 15 year olds were earning more than that and were worried (falsely) that their wages would drop. That was tried by a few of the smaller places around.
But anyone under 15 is still fair game for the unscrupulous and there are a lot of them around. the places where i managed under 16′s were started at $9.90 ph so that was better than a lot of others around.
@deadly thanks for making the point about under 16s. I also worry that kids can be employed as independent contractors where they have no rights at all.
The Heralds editorial today on this topic is surprisingly sensible and has a whack at the Restaurant Assn and the newly emerging practice of other private businesses charging a surcharge.
Goodness, the Restaurant owners union got something wrong? Again, fear-mongering by an employer group to get their own way. How is it that when a union suggests anything negative they are loudly proclaimed as evil whingers trying to screw poor employers and run down the economy, when a business group does it there is universal silence.
“When the law was introduced, the Restaurant Association predicted a return to the time when virtually everything shut down at the weekend. There would be mass closures of cafes and restaurants, and those that chose to open would, inevitably, have to place a surcharge of 15 or 20 per cent on their menus to recoup added labour costs, it said. Clearly, this was wrong. While some restaurants closed their doors over the Christmas-New Year period, many others remained open. And, according to the association itself, more than half of these did not impose a surcharge.”
@Tracey – thanks for the quote. I haven’t figured out my ipad well enough yet to do links.