Why stop at $24?

Simon Collins reports:

A senior Auckland unionist says the proposed “living wage” of $18.40 an hour is not enough in Auckland.

Service and Food Workers Union lead organiser Len Richards told a conference launching the living wage at AUT University yesterday that Aucklanders needed $24 an hour to pay higher rents and other costs.

Why stop there? How about $40 an hour? What nasty filthy Tory would argue against paying someone at McDonalds leess than $40 an hour?

However, Auckland’s $24.11 is not only 30 per cent higher than the proposed $18.40 national living wage, but is higher too than the national median wage of $20.86 an hour, so it would mean seeking higher wages for the lowest-paid Aucklanders than for more than half of all workers.

Details details.

It’s all so simple. All we need to do to close the wage gap with Australia is to have a minimum living wage of $40 an hour. This will cost the Government some more money, but then all we have to do is print more money to cover the wages.

Those two simple acts, will have closed the wage gap with Australia and eliminated the budget deficit. Our economy will be healthy – hoo rah, and NZ will be a paradise that people will flock to to be paid $40 an hour.