Labour has agreed to back Sue Bradford's Minimum Wage (Abolition of Age Discrimination) Amendment Bill to select committee. The bill already had the support of the Greens and United Future, and almost certainly the Maori Party as well given Pita Sharples' speech at the SuperSizeMyPay rally on Sunday, so it will comfortably pass its first reading. The next step will be to make sure that it passes its second. The bill will be sent to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee, and its important that it get a strong show of support from public submissions. I'll post details on how to submit when they become available.
Update: I've just been informed that NZ First will also be supporting the bill to select committee. That makes 67 confirmed votes in favour, and 71 if the Maori Party joins in.
I am unsure if I support this - it sounds good (anti discrimination) but
ReplyDeleteit seems that to prevent discrimination
pocket money => unemployment benefit
money for chores => minimum wage
etc etc
ie that in the long run it will both cripple our ability to introduce children to money (ie the education process).
I guess the bottom line is are parents and guardians protecting our childrens rights? is this system failing?
I'm not quite sure what point you're making. But one of the problems is that people assume that just because a group tends to have a certain characteristic (in this case living at home, being supported by their parents) then it is justifiable to treat all members of that group as if they had that characteristic.
ReplyDeleteIt's not it's discrimination.
Why should pocket money be greater than the unemployment benefit? Children aren't eligible for the unemployment benefit, since they're supposed to be at school and with all their needs met by their parents. Helping with household chores isn't a revenue-generating exercise, and wage laws don't apply.
ReplyDeleteReasonable age discrimination is quite necessary - newborn babies shouldn't be required to serve on juries, for example. Youth wage rates, however, are unreasonable discrimination, since they have nothing to do with ability. If someone is old enough to work at all, they should be paid the standard rate.