One could say that a sector of society has to deliberately be kept in penury to fulfill all these unproductive needs in our society which others would not dream of doing. families no longer look after their elderly but those with handicapped children have to. They have no other options open to them as the upbring and education or their nationality has deprived so many of a chance to strive for a better life. We need them to do those jobs we consider to be "beneath us".

Once upon a time a nurse was the dogsbody in a hospital. Today they train in Colleges and have a B.A. and there is a little army of underpaid employees who do the dirty work. Even the nurses are considered to be underpaid. The world is full of these workers who are worth their weight in gold. They pay their way in taxes like the rest do, but are still bound by the chains of a selfish society which needs them more than they need us.

Instead of kidding them that holding street protests will get any Govt. to give them the decent wage they deserve, why do not the well paid protest on their behalf and demand the Govt. to give them more or a general strike is in the offing. Hang on, I had better check that I won't lose my hard earned cash.

Hey Doc,

Your hourly rate of $18.0 dollars is too low.

I made a balls-up of the first paragraph of my post No.51. it should be....

In 2000 the Median earnings of wage and salary earners had risen to 1.4% from 1999.

In 2011 the Median earnings of wage and salary earners had only risen to 1.9% with an hourly rate of $20.38.

In 11 years it had only risen 0.4% Bloody disgusting....come back here Australia ya hear!!!!

Therefore in my opinion the absolute minimum hourly rate should START at $20.38 and we think about it from there.

I'll tell you this for free....in those 11 years everything known to man that we must purchase just to survive, including real estate rentals has risen substantially more than that lousy 0.4%....so I'm not being greedy either, just learnt a wee bit about reality in my time.

Oi, don't forget our 'Super' either.

Cheers.

Oiy SQUIRTY !!
I heard they were working with TAB ,Casinos And Pokie operators
An are gunna tax all winners , but there'll be NO tax rebates fer any losses !
every punter will have a electronic device fitted surgicaly , which will have to be scanned before any gambling can be started , this information will be instantly beamed to "THEM"

If this proves a success it will be used on drinkers , all establishments providing alcohol will be forced to buy and install all equipment needed for this tax collecting
this maybe in future be used in the fast foods outlets

Squirter, Your post may well be right on the money. However the figure I posted on was in the UK And there Living Wage Foundation has already achieved their chosen goals with employers participating in the scheme. Living Wage Aotearoa NZ only launched on Wednesday and has some way to go to explore what is a Living Wage in NZ.In UK the figure was set by the Centre for Research in Social Policy @ Longborough University There is a report available to read on how they calculated that figure.From November 2012 Living Wage figures will be announced annually in November each year. Living Wage employers have about si months to implement following the annual announcement.

upya royal canadian ya hua

Cheers.

Doc....that was ment for that half-baked bloody Aussie.

Cheers.

Quote DrL: "Bryan,So you personally do not think that ordinary hardworking Kiwis who want to have a Living Wage should not strive for better than what the politicians of ALL parties have failed to deliver."

I'm starting to think you are starting to fall to Benny's leval when you say things like that!

So if I don't believe what YOU say I must support the opposite? Get off the grass!

I will admit that I may not have worded things as well as I could but then I'm only a broken down truck driver but what I meant was "Leave the MAJOR political parties out!"

I do have more comments to make but time presses

Crikey Squirty-------- Fancy swearin at DOC like that !!

Bryan, I never said that.And once again I assure you. This campaign is nothing to do with ANY Political Party. They have all failed us!This is about getting willing employers and willing people to pay and receive a Living Wage. It is a voluntary Campaign that is working well in UK & USA.Bryan, There is nothing wrong with truckdrivers.I drove a small Truck for a few years. Cheers,

arandar - don't you remember, that with budget deficits as at present, KiwiSaver "incentives" are taxpayer subsidies which have to be borrowed and increase our debt before starting to create wealth after the debts have been repaid?
And that they only help the better off to become more better off more easily (like National's tax reductions) at the cost of those (mostly poorer people) who for whatever reason do not take up KiwiSaving?

And Dr. Livingstone - even though there was no direct popular demand for reversing the Norman Kirk super savings only just introduced by popular approval, wasn't National's exploitaton of the short sighted (egoistic?) popular attitude of "more now" a clear example of massive "people power" misjudgement, motivated and manipulated by "class war" attitudes of the extreme Right?

There is not likely to be an improvement in those "class war battles" leading from one extreme to the other until someone emerges from the "have-not" or "have" classes influential enough (with enough backing) to approach the opposite class for some co-operative effort of more universal participation in wealth creation and ownership, which would lead to all of us merging into "haves", and (child) poverty made history where it belongs in this age of relative plenty ( but self-destructive if depending on systematic wealth redistribution from haves to have-nots).

David Shearer made a promising initiative on that, and National's refusal to take it up would give David the chance of leadership.

But with what proposition, Dr. Livingstone?

You have a good idea of what my leadership policy suggestion would be.

What is yours? More wages for the poor?

Jens, You seem to have problems with the word poor.? Jens Wouldn,t it be a better fairer world if there was just a bit more equality in this world? You have supported John Key since 2008 so you will just have to be patient for the detail a little bit more

Yes, Dr.Livingstone - more equality in wealth ownership and opportunity in this world!!!

What is your practical policy proposition of achieving it without the "equality " in poverty as in Cuba or North Korea?