The new minimum wage increase to NZ$21.20 an hour should help a significant number of New Zealand’s lowest-paid workers and their families – 300,000 people, according to the government. Just how much it will help, however, is less certain. At 6%, the increase is in line with the 5.9% annual rise in the consumer price Read more
A lot of Samoan people are saying it is getting hard to earn enough to support their families. 21-year old Fereti Maiava wants to plan his future and that of his young family properly. He told Village Voice that family and church obligations are a big problem. “When it comes to family faalavelave, church and Read more
Stories of migrant workers being exploited, with some paid as little as $8 an hour, have been revealed in a new report from Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. Report author Cathy Bi said the story that struck her the most was of a girl who worked a shift at a restaurant, but was not paid because her Read more
The Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations is pushing for the nation’s minimum wage to be increased by A$28.70 a week. The Catholic council lodged a claim in Australia’s Fair Work Commission that the national minimum wage be set at A$669.60 a week. The council’s proposed increase is more than double the amount major employer Read more
The first ever National Minimum Wage in Fiji was announced by the Minister for Labour, Mr Jone Usamate last Wednsday. Former wages council chairman and poverty alleviation advocate Fr Kevin Barr has welcomed the Fiji government’s announcement that the country’s minimum wage rate at has been set at $2 per hour. However he thinks it it Read more
The former Wages Council chairman Father Kevin Barr has commended the government’s effort to set up a minimum wage baseline for workers in Fiji. Based on the findings of the National Minimum Wage Baseline Survey, two dollars and thirty two cents an hour is now the proposed minimum wage. Barr says the new proposed rate Read more