KEY POINTS:
Minimum wage workers will now get a few extra dollars in their pay packets.
The adult minimum wage rose yesterday from $10.25 to $11.25 an hour. People aged 18 and over and working a standard 40-hour week can expect to earn no less than $450 a week.
But
that extra $40 a week will translate to just $32 after tax, says one low-paid mum who works two jobs to help make ends meet.
Anne Bills works 40 hours a week at Hawkes Bay Hospital as a cleaner. She leaves home at 5.30 every morning for the walk to work and starts cleaning at 6am.
Her shift ends at 2.30pm and then she helps out at an after school children's centre until around 6pm.
She works Saturday and Sundays at the hospital to receive extra shift payments - but her 'weekend' on Wednesday and Thursday - are broken by her afternoon child care work.
"It means I effectively work a seven-day week so I can provide my children and family with the things they need," says Bills, whose husband works at Hawkes Bay Hospital's psychiatric unit as a care associate.
"My son needed rugby boots and they are not cheap - but I want him to play sport. Plus there are school trips my daughter goes on that I want her to enjoy. I never want to have to deny my children things like these."
She's pleased the Government increased the minimum wage but says it is about $3 an hour short of where it needs to be.
She also feels employers should be willing to pay more and not hold off for the Government to push them into having to increase pay.
Bills' main employer is a contract cleaning company. She spends the first two working hours of the day cleaning offices and once that's done she moves to the hospital's special care areas polishing the floors, cleaning toilets and disinfecting the wards.
She takes her job seriously and recognises the importance of clinical hygiene.
"I feel lucky that I can work these hours every week," she says. "Having two jobs means I can help my family - I feel good about that. But if I had one good wage then I could spend weekends with the family - a Sunday afternoon would be lovely.
"I would like to do all those little things a parent is normally able to do. But if having to work two jobs is what I need to do then I am grateful that I can do that."
Bills has been working as a hospital cleaner for 20 years and enjoys the work - even though it is hard - and enjoys the camaraderie of her work mates.
But she says her hourly rate has risen by just $2.39 during the past 20 years (including yesterday's rise).
"The responsibilities for parents are really hard," says Bills. "I am willing to bring my children up the right way and the Government should recognise that responsibility. People should be able to earn enough to have a balanced family life.
"I feel disappointed in the district health board and the cleaning contract firms because they don't seem to recognise the value of our work."
The fast food and retail industry are among those employers to be hit hardest by this week's pay rise.
Russell Sinclair, northern regional manager of the New Zealand Retailers' Association, is worried the rise, coupled with the extra week's holiday, will hurt retailers.
"The minimum wage is increasing at the same time as the extra week's leave comes in so I hope retailers are taking these extra costs into account and have worked out how to get the income they will need to cover it.
"These are additional costs and they will have to cover them with a mixture of raising prices in the shops and trimming their operating costs."
Sinclair also says the rise in the minimum wage will have a knock-on effect for those earning above the basic pay rate.
"Those earning above the minimum wage will start to expect a pay rise themselves. When the minimum wage goes up it creates pressure at all levels. Everyone else expects a little extra too, which has an even bigger impact on business."
The Government says that around 119,000 workers will benefit from this week's minimum wage increase. Its goal is for an adult minimum wage of $12 an hour by the end of next year, subject to 'economic conditions'.
