Job fears in row over special pay rates for special people

Robert McElwee, 34, enjoys his job at the Abilities workshop in Glenfield. Picture / Dean Purcell

Two years ago Robert McElwee won a gold medal at the Special Olympics in Dublin. Today his job is at risk because of a proposed new law.

Mr McElwee, 34, earns $1.25 an hour or $50 a week on top of his invalid benefit by doing process work for electrical wholesale company Securimax at Abilities, a Glenfield workshop for people with intellectual disabilities.

The proposed new law would force the workshop to either pay him the minimum wage, which goes up on Monday to $9.50 an hour, or negotiate a special rate based on his level of disability - which is likely to be higher than $1.25.

Manager Peter Fraher says Abilities would lose many of its contracts to China or other competitors if it is forced to pay higher wages. He has told Mr McElwee and the other 80 disabled people at the workshop that he cannot guarantee their jobs if the new law goes through.

Throughout the country, the law change threatens more than 3000 disabled people working on minimal pay in workshops which have been exempted from the minimum-wage law since 1960.

The Society for the Intellectually Handicapped (IHC) supports the change, arguing that companies should not be allowed to "exploit" the disabled.

But Mr McElwee says he is "happy" earning $50 a week, and his mother, Carol McElwee, says the job is "his pride and joy".

"It's his life," she said. "He leaves the house at 6.50am and gets home at 5.30pm. He's proud to go out to work. He likes the work. If he wasn't doing that he'd be at home with me."

He spends $13.80 a week out of his $50 on the bus fare from the family's Belmont home to Glenfield and $10 on ten-pin bowling, which won him his gold medal at the 2003 Special Olympics.

His invalid benefit of $205 a week pays his board and the costs of his food, clothes and shoes. That amount would be reduced if his wages rose to more than $80 a week.

Securimax chief executive Joe Pengelly said his company started using Abilities workers for "overspill" work four or five years ago, and was pleased with their work.

"I like supporting them," he said. "It's an opportunity for them and it's convenient for me to support the organisation. I don't call it exploitation."

An Invercargill woman, Marion Miller, whose son Glyn is "40 going on 8", has started a national petition asking the Government to delay the law change while it consults the affected workers and their families.

"Glyn goes to the library once a week, he goes to the Paralympics and swimming. He's not interested in art, but he will stick at a mundane boring job for a long time," she said.

"I'd love him to have a wage, love it! But he wouldn't earn a wage, that's the reality of life. And he has no concept of money or the value of money - his money goes straight into sweets and fizz."

After only six weeks, her petition has already gathered more than 4000 signatures, mainly from Southland.

Former Health and Disability Commissioner Robyn Stent has emailed all 120 MPs warning that many workshops will close if they pass the bill, which is due back in the House on March 31. The only remaining service for the disabled would be "community participation" - non-job-related activities such as arts, crafts and swimming.

IHC chief executive Ralph Jones said the organisation had already converted 150 workshops into training or creative centres in the past three years, and was now reviewing its remaining 140 workshops because it could not afford to pay the minimum wage.

The workshops are supported by its annual appeal, and Abilities relies on donations from the ASB Trust and the proceeds of gambling machines through Sky City and the Lion Foundation.

However, Disability Issues Minister Ruth Dyson said the workshops would qualify for wage subsidies for disabled workers in the same way as any other business through Workbridge, a state agency that subsidises wages by up to $16,900 a year - equivalent to $8.12 an hour.

She accepted that some contracts that might not be viable even at that rate might be lost to China, costing some disabled workers' jobs.

"They may not have that job. It's the same with any business in New Zealand," she said.

"We have standards that we expect our employers to meet.

"You could say we should have no environmental standards and no safety standards so that we can compete anywhere in the world. Is that what New Zealanders want?" 

Paying the disabled

NOW: About 3000 disabled workers in sheltered workshops are paid about $50 a week on top of their benefits.

PROPOSED: A bill in Parliament would require workshops to pay the minimum wage of $9.50 an hour or negotiate lower rates based on each worker's ability.

IHC says: The bill will stop companies exploiting disabled workers.

PARENTS say: Work gives disabled workers pride and dignity and should not be priced out of existence.

* Marion Miller, 03 214 3164