Over the weekend, I door-knocked in Ranui. Interesting feedback there. ECE teachers who are furious with National. Other houses where Maori voters told me they’ve come back to Labour.
And then there’s the other famiies, those struggling to make ends meet, doing their best to find work. I met a couple yesterday. The wife was made redundant in 2010 with no redundancy pay. She’s looked and looked but has been unable to find another job. Then her husband lost his job too. He finally found work at the other end of Auckland stacking used tyres. He is paid $14 an hour, and getting to work costs him $100 a week in petrol costs. Awful job and inevitably he was injured. ACC paid him 80% of $14 an hour, which meant a real struggle to pay the mortgage. So he’s gone back to work – before he should. ACC told him to do “light duties” – well there are none at this workplace. The wife told me that “some days we eat, some days we don’t.”
This is John Key and the National Government’s New Zealand.
Wake up.
Argh! It’s criminal!
! I feel sorry for him 
It is this sort of thing that hopefully will rid those affected of voter apathy and make them realise they need to vote and not be dazzled by the smile and wave approach. Incidentally…isn’t it interesting how after nearly two and half years of refusing to appear on media shows the Tories are now flooding every show possible? — must be election year.
This couple will certainly be voting – and voting Labour.
So are you saying Darien that if Labour were in power that they would be getting additional financial government support? If so what? And if John Key is causing so much pain to NZ why don’t you run against him again in Helensville?
There is always more to this type of story that meets the eye. I feel for these folk, but what skills, qualifications and experience do they hold to increase their chances of getting a job? If it was factory work, these are generally and sadly the first hit as they often involve producing discretionary items, which have lowered demand in times of economic stress. Perhaps they could first retrain in another industry or update their skill set? There are jobs for those that have up to date skills. An example from my experience is we recently advertised two positions in my company needing degree qualifications and experience, we received the sum total of 3 applications for TWO JOBS (that pay $75-$90,000p.a.). None of which were suitable. Next week will be the third time we have advertised these positions only this time we will also advertise overseas and see if we can get traction that way.
Nats’ Brighter Future .. in Oz.
Most skilled and qualified have gone.
@Lou
Your company isn’t applying the 90 day fire-at-will provision, is it? People will tend to keep their current jobs and not apply for others if they are going to risk being kicked to the curb for no reason. Otherwise, a signing bonus or a higher salary may be the only way to attract sufficient talent.
@ Lou, what’s wrong with these jobs and the workplace to make them so unattractive?
Nats Ambitious for NZ – closing the wage gap
With China.
And if MMP get dumped at this election, or if Labour’s lacklustre polling continues, you’ll be looking for a job yourself.
What policy would you purpose to help national unemployment? Compulsory benefits for all?
@ jagman, compulsory benefits is Tory policy, but mainly for farmers and business folks and movie makers and casino bosses and others who Krusty likes … and who can make a nice fat donation …
@jag man what a silly comment. MMP won’t be dumped at this election. Even if people voted against MMP there will still be another referendum.
@ arandar
With a difference – China is on the way up
China is upskilling, educating itself and aggressively enabling technology transfer
NZ under Nats is on the way down
At this rate with Nats, Kiwis will, part way on our descent, meet an ascendant China
Do a budget for them taking into account all their unavoidable expenses and you’ll probably find that this guy is paying to go to work. They’ll probably only be getting by because of state help which would mean that that employer is indirectly getting state subsidies.
@Lou Peters
After NAct cut ACE funding they probably can’t afford to and going on to a student allowance/loan won’t cover the expenses they already have. Your suggestion would probably result in them losing everything they have. Good for the capitalists of course as they’ll be able to buy a house (Assuming that they own it not rent) at below market rates and sell it to make an untaxed capital gain.
@Gary Jones
Exactly, although, it wasn’t really going anywhere under Labour either due to their fixation on the “free-market”.
Invest in society and the economy will follow, focus only on the economy and the society will stagnate.
If the answer to this couple’s issues are for them to upskill. Don’t they need a job while they upskill? Up skilling incentives have just been removed from people on DPB. If the answer is upskilling, what happens when everyone is upskilled, will the majority of jobs (unskilled) no longer need to be done
@RJS131 – You are obsessed about me running in Helensville – says nothing in a Tory electorate and we have a very good candidte there already, What I am saying is what this government is doing is crap. Under Labour the husband would be getting at least $15 minimum wage, and he and his wife would have had redundancy compensation – and there would be real options for skills retraining.
Did they work hard when they were teenaged and young adults? Did they do there best to excel in their career, trade or profession? Did they go without electronics and other non-essentials, or did they tick them up on HP? Did they buy a house out of their price range? Did they buy a car try couldn’t afford? Did they use drugs when they were younger? Did they have kids too early? Did he follow safe work practices in orderto avoid injury?
Look. I feel sorry for people with stories like this, but I’m sick of living within my means, saving an extra I earn, I studied hard for five years to get where I am now and I have been safe to avoid kids nor used drugs – unless people take control of their lies I have little sympathy.
But ofcourse these people could be very nice and are a product of misfortune… My condolences if they are.
I think raising instances like this as silly. I have NO doubt that people in this position could have been found between 1999 and 2008 as well.
When we have errors/accidents etc at work, management ask the 5 whys to find out the reason for the incident (whatever).
If this family were asked the 5 whys and the 5th answer was John Key or the National Party, then I would suggest you ask again.
“@jag man what a silly comment. MMP won’t be dumped at this election.”
It effectively will be if you signal a team up with Winston. The second referendum will be a rubber stamp.
@lou peters “we recently advertised two positions in my company needing degree qualifications and experience”
If you only got 3 responses then I have to agree that your advertisements must be either offering a salary that’s too low or have requirements that are too restrictive. As for factory work “being the first to go because they often involve producing discretionary items” – where are the non-discretionary items produced if not in a factory?
@Jennifer nothing wrong with the jobs, good salaries, medical insurance and super, except they require degree qualified people with experience. There are few who meet the criteria. No we do not use the 90 day provision, that is more about giving inexperienced people a shot at a job, as you well know. For professional positions, in my experience, it is is rarely if ever a consideration to use the 90 day employment provision.
Lou, one of the reasons for that is not that professional people dont under perform, arent lazy and so n, but the demand , as you say, for their position is higher, so the employer cannot dictate terms. This is the power differential which will almost never change for low skilled employees, hence always under the pressure of such things as 90 day no notice no reason whim. Minimal training investment is required from these people so they are easy to replace and are dispensible. In many ways the 90 day fits more with professional positions, but employers know most professionals wont accept a job on that basis.
Intersting observation about degrees because this government has capped numbrs at tertiary institutions and withdrawn support for people on the DPB to attend.
I suspect it is less the degree than the experience that is wanting. During a recession professionals with experience are more likely to stay where they are.
Just how much per hour more would stacking tyres be worth if Labour were the Government? How much would you reduce the cost of fuel by so this fellow didn’t spend $100 driving to work? If you legislated a higher wage for this work…do you think the operator would then bother to pay someone to do it? Employers pay wages with the money earned by the activities their employees undertake…employees need to consider that in any given day they need to be earning a lot
more than their take home pay for that day. The world does NOT owe you a living and employers are often only taking home $14 per hour themselves!
What’s wrong with stacking tyres?
Why call the job awful?
Puts food on his families plate.
I bet he’s damn proud of that!
He’s earning more than I am in my own business over the recession, mortgage? I’ll never afford a house! Make me evil right?
Seems as though everyone has lost site that this is an ACC problem sited, not a job/fuel cost/economy problem.
As we pay ACC based on our income we’re covered based on our income. 80% of whatever.
What you seem to be saying is that 80% isn’t enough in this case, so feel free to expand on your solution.