"During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, you acted quickly to set up the COVID income relief payment, which is nearly twice the amount of the usual jobseeker benefit.

"You showed us that you understand that current benefit levels are insufficient and lock families and children into poverty — an issue that affects all of us.

"Now, we are asking you to apply the same common sense approach to all income support", the groups wrote in and open letter.

The religious and community groups are urging Ardern to lift inadequate welfare payments by Christmas.

"No matter who we are or where we live, we know that our wellbeing is interconnected with those around us. When everyone has what they need to look after themselves and fully participate in their communities, we all flourish, the groups say.

Right now, hundreds of thousands of children are constrained by poverty, despite parents' best efforts and we all want every child in Aotearoa to experience a thriving and happy childhood, they say.

"This is a critical time in our history and we are concerned even more people will slip into entrenched poverty," says the Salvation Army policy director, Ian Hutson.

Hutson says when people have to battle day-to-day to put food on the table and find the rent, the emotional initiative that is sucked up by the struggle to survive leaves people without the energy or hope to find work.

"People need enough income to stand up on so they can move on."

Another signatory to the open letter is Mental Health Foundation's chief executive Shaun Robinson. A living wage is critical to good mental health, he says.

"There is ample evidence that poverty, particularly as it impacts on children, has significant impacts on poor mental health."

Many of Jacinda's child poverty and children's mental health goals could be met simply by raising benefits, he says.

"This is a very quick fix: put the money into making benefits liveable, especially for households with children and you will achieve many of your policy outcomes within months."

The National Council of Women New Zealand's president, Lisa Lawrence, says those on welfare are increasingly worse off.

"We would implore that the rates of benefits across the country are re-examined so that no child is left in material poverty," she says.

Community volunteer and disability benefit recipient Stacey Ryan says this year's $25 a week benefit boost isn't enough.

"Because of my illnesses and disabilities I can't work anymore and an extra 25 dollars a week does not help me afford the medicines I need, let alone help me pay my rent, pay my bills and have my phone going.

"For the majority of people they need an extra 100 to 150 dollars a week - and that's for a solo person," she says.

Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has declined to comment on benefit adequacy.

Source

• Scoop
• Action Station
• TVNZ
• Image: Stuff

Stuff reports that churches in New Zealand have received "more than $1.5 million".

Among other Catholic entities that have received money, the Catholic Diocese of Auckland received $618,338 for 94 staff.

The Catholic Diocese of Hamilton was paid $165,880 for its 24 staff.

Catholic Diocese of Auckland general manager James van Schie said the wage subsidy helped provide "certainty for staff during this uncertain time".

All workers were being paid 100 per cent of their wages as the church was topping up the subsidy, Van Schie said.

The Anglican Diocese of Auckland received $718,123 for 109 staff.

The Anglican Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki was paid $355,058 for 65 staff.

Its senior executive manager Simon Cayley said the subsidy was applied on behalf of 50 parishes that operated their own opportunity shops.

​Cayley said without the tax-payer-funded subsidy scheme; the economy would be burdened by more people going on the benefit.

"We don't have huge reserves, we have trust funds, but we can't suddenly break them and spend them as we like because they are subject to the wishes of beneficiaries around them," Cayley said.

"We talked it through extensively before making the application. One of the reasons we referenced it was that if all these people were suddenly out of work and claiming the benefit, that would have a big cost on the economy.

The scheme is enabling us to sustain the economy beyond COVID-19."

The Wage Subsidy Scheme supports employers adversely affected by COVID-19 so that they can continue to pay their employees, and supports workers to ensure they continue to receive an income, and stay connected to their employer, even if they are unable to work.

The Wage Subsidy Scheme is available to all businesses (including the self-employed, contractors and sole traders), registered charities, incorporated societies and post-settlement governance entities, that are adversely affected by COVID-19.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• employment.govt.nz
• Image: rnz.co.nz

According to Valerie Schultz, while the church relies on volunteers in many instances, certain jobs require steady commitment and extensive training, which must be compensated. Paying the people who provide these services is a matter of economic justice.

Schultz says while her examples are anecdotal rather than statistical, "as a laywoman who once worked for the church, I can attest that the problem of earning a living wage while doing God's work is real". Read more

But this is complicated as he lives in church-provided accommodation, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The new living wage level, calculated by the Anglican Family Centre, increased from $18.80 an hour last year in line with average wage increases.

It is defined by its supporters as "the income necessary to provide workers and their families with the basic necessities of life".

Bishop Duckworth said his diocese was committed to paying the living wage in all "diocesan entities" by later this year.

But Anglican schools, aged care homes and social services such as the Wellington City Mission are not bound by the policy because they are independent entities.

"The City Mission are wrestling with this issue as well. Most of the diocese [is] wrestling with this issue," Bishop Duckworth told the Herald.

"I, like every high income earner, needs to reflect on their own personal commitment to supporting the living wage in their organisation, and therefore the appropriate policy that they might have in relation to their wage," he said.

About one-third of all Kiwi workers earned below the living wage rate, said research leader Rev. Charles Waldegrave of the Anglican Family Centre in Lower Hutt.

Rev. Waldegrave said it would be unrealistic to raise the legal minimum wage to $19.25 an hour, but he said the living wage was meant as a voluntary "aspirational" target.

The adult minimum wage in New Zealand will increase from $14.25 an hour to $14.75 an hour from April 1, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse announced on February 25.

Sources

• New Zealand Herald
• New Zealand Herald
• Stuff
• Image: 3News

His feast day is commemorated with supermarket meat sales, green rivers, green beer, and (my favourite) parades.

But who was the real St Patrick?

Most people know that the missionary Patrick (Patricius or Pádraig) helped to bring Christianity to Ireland in the 5^th Century. Some may remember how his first visit to the island was as a slave.

Sadly, only a few may remember Patrick's opposition to structural injustice and his prophetic defense of victims of violence and human trafficking.

As with so many of our saints, Patrick's radical application of the Gospel has been domesticated and stripped of its challenging message.

Rather than witnessing to the prophetic and loving call of the God's mission, Patrick has been turned into a caricature to decorate commercial marketing schemes and Hallmark cards. Continue reading.

Kevin Glauber Ahern, PhD is an assistant professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. He served as the President of the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS-Pax Romana) and is Vice-President of the ICMICA-Pax Romana.

Source: Daily Theology

Image: Author's own

Jobs in the fast food industry are often a young person's first taste of working life - from slinging burgers after school to delivering pizzas on the weekend.

The hours are flexible, and while the pay is usually minimal, the social side of it can be fun.

But full- or part-time, young workers spoken to for The Wireless agree - theirs is a tough job.

Physically and mentally, there's a lot to deal with: overwhelming heat in kitchens; demanding, sometimes abusive customers; standing all day, and the monotony of doing the same thing, shift after shift.

It's all go, and while the industry prides itself on creating career opportunities, moving through the ranks isn't for everyone.

Of people spoken to both on and off the record about their experiences in fast food work, responses were almost equally divided between enjoying the work, and despising it.

None were particularly interested in careers within the fast food industry.

McDonald's employs over 9000 people in New Zealand, the majority aged under 25.

The Only Option

Taarira Kiro-Paewhenua, 23, worked in the Whangerei Burger King for two-and-a-half years, spending the whole time in the kitchen making the burgers; in the end she found the job "sickening".

The job was her only option at the time and she didn't want to go on a benefit, she says.

Supporting herself in her own flat, she lived on the minimum wage of $13.50 an hour, usually working 40 hours to cover her rent, bills and food, leaving only $20 a week to spend on socialising. Continue reading.

Source: The Wireless

Image: Fanpop

In a report released last Friday, the Treasury argues the "living wage is not well targeted at the intended demographic of low-income families".

It thinks the $18.40 an hour figure the campaigners are calling for is too high, and says that if widely adopted, it would cost jobs, push up prices and require an increase in taxation.

The question is whether hard-working parents, working 60 hours a week between them, should be able to earn enough from their wages to give a couple of kids a minimally decent start in life.

Living Wage Aotearoa New Zealand defines a living wage as "the income necessary to provide workers and their families with the basic necessities of life".

It is transparent about how the $18.40 a week figure has been arrived at. It is spelled out at length in a report by the Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit, whose authors say "it embraces small but important things like being able to to pay for children to enjoy a school trip, having a computer in the home and being able to mix with friends recreationally, albeit modestly".

It allows, for example, $275 a week for the roof over their heads. That wouldn't stretch far in Auckland. Continue reading.

Brian Fallow is the New Zealand Herald's Economics Editor.

Source: The New Zealand Herald

Image:

Bishop Justin Duckworth, a dreadlocked, Jandal-wearing priest who was an upset choice as bishop last year, is also challenging other high-income earners to take less to fund higher wages for the 39 per cent of Kiwi workers who now earn less than the living wage, defined by union and church groups as $18.40 an hour.

His current salary is about $63,000, or $30 an hour, plus a house. Continue reading

Church leaders however say the wages they pay is not something they control. It depends on the Government controlled subsidy for rest homes which is $695 per client, including GST, per week.

We simply don't get enough money. We are shackled by the Government's contract," says Anglican Living director Alison Jephson.

The Living Wage Campaign, launched in February, argues that it costs $18.40 an hour for a worker to "live with dignity" and participate in society. The minimum wage is $13.75 an hour.

According to a Star Sunday Times report, last year the average price paid to aged-care providers for residential care, including dementia care, increased by just 1.08 per cent - a rise so small advocates claim it was a testament to how "grossly underfunded" the sector is.

The majority of the 48,000 workers in New Zealand's aged-care sector earn $14-$15 an hour.

Source

• The Press
• Image: BlueBird Care

"Given the extent of employment by Catholic organisations and charities, it is likely that thousands of people could be affected and lifted out of ‘in-work poverty'," reports the Christian think-tank Ekklesia.

Continue reading

The Living Wage Aotearoa NZ campaign is drawing support from unions, churches, Pacific, women's and community groups.

continue reading

Amidst high security for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Public and Commercial and Services union was outside the gates of Buckingham Palace from 12 noon to 2pm on 28 April 2011 with a giant 'fair pay for royal cleaners' card for members of the public to sign.

PCS General Secretary, Mark Serwotka commented: "While the royals were preparing for the prince's lavish wedding, our members were and are being treated like paupers."

The London living wage is paid to cleaners in the houses of parliament. However cleaners in Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace and Clarence House are paid just £6.45 an hour. They are looking a £1.40 an hour increase to match the the 'London living wage'.

The royal cleaners are employed by two private contractors, KGB Holdings and Greenzone, but the union believes ultimate responsibility rests with the Royal Household, which receives around £30 million a year from taxpayers - half of which is for upkeep of the occupied palaces.

"The royal family is seen as a major contributor to the tourist industry and many people visit London specifically to see the palaces. We'll be asking them to show their support for the people on poverty pay who keep these palaces clean." Serwotka said.

The union has also launched an online petition.

Sources

• Public and Commercial Services Union
• Ekklesia