I know that is the classic leftwing strategy for attracting votes, get on your soapbox and offer extra cash to people too stupid to understand the unwritten agenda, but honestly! Green is supposed to be more intelligent than that. All this piteous wailing is not necessary.

The answer lies in their own hands. Either drop that job and get another, or start their own little business.

What is to stop any homecare worker from starting their own little homecare service business? It takes: one bucket, four cleaning rags, and a pencil and slips of paper to put in letterboxes. Then they can raise their income to $20 per hour, easy. Many home cleaners charge a lot more than that.

And … puh-lease! No marches down the street asking for government start-up grants and job creation subsidies. Anybody who is too witless or lazy to get out there with a bucket and cloth and slip Work Skills Offered notes into every letterbox is, frankly, not worthy of support.

As for the ILO, I’m waiting to see how much it does for the REALLY poor people, the ones on a dollar a day or less, who are barely managing to eat.

And the ACC – oh, mercy, don’t get me started.

What, you actually WANT that foul scheme, which is the joy of every drug company from Honolulu to Hong Kong, because it makes kiwis into helpless experimental subjects??? They can use their doctor force to dish out any drug, any at all and, no matter how destructive and deadly the outcome, we cannot sue them.

Oh, what happy little drug company executives the New Zealand ACC scheme makes them.

Like or Dislike: 0  3 (-3)

Is there compensation for the costs of the travel itself – petrol, car insurance and depreciation on a work related vehicle?

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

Like or Dislike: 2  0 (+2)

Rural Women New Zealand says ACC travel cuts short-sighted

Rural Women New Zealand is disappointed at the recent decision by ACC to cut travel payments to home-based support workers.

“The decision to remove payments for the first 20kms travelled by a support worker to an ACC client will inevitably adversely impact on delivery of services to the rural sector,” says RWNZ health spokesperson, Marie Appleton.

Rural workers feature particularly highly in workforce accident statistics due to the physical nature of their work.

“The travel cost cuts will lead to a shortage of rural home care workers due to the kilometers they have to travel which will no longer be reimbursed. It will hit them in the pocket, particularly with the higher costs of fuel,” says Mrs Appleton.

Rural Women New Zealand believes the move is short sighted and will end up costing the government more.

“It will make it even harder to recruit homecare workers, and will result in longer hospital stays if people cannot go home without support.”

A good point about the longer hospital stays – I didn’t think of that one.

Like or Dislike: 3  0 (+3)

Often home care workers see 3 or 4 clients a day, doing 1 or two hours work for each – just doing the household tasks that the injured person can’t do such as vacuuming, laundry, bedmaking etc. In cases of very serious injuries, however, an injured person who needs constant care can be provided with 24 hour attendant care. My understanding where a caregiver sees several different people in one day, the 20km applies to each trip.

@SPC:

I think the way they get around the minimum wage issue is by arguing that the caregiver is not actually working when they are travelling between the homes of the people they care for, so what they are being paid for that time is an allowance, rather than a wage.

And speaking of the ILO (although slightly off topic) New Zealand continues to be in breach of ILO Convention 17 by requiring injured workers to pay co-payments for the cost of treatment for work injuries, and the Government’s moves to reintroduce co-payments for physiotherapy will make us even less compliant with that convention. It might be worthwhile making a complaint to the ILO on that issue.

Like or Dislike: 1  1 (0)

But, I suspect the time compensation developed because of the multiple journeys, to such an extent that travel was part of the job time, so in that case it is unfair.

The ILO takes a dim view of anyone being required to work below the legal minimum wage.

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

Trevor.

Like or Dislike: 3  0 (+3)

Like or Dislike: 1  0 (+1)

I thought the Nat’s were supposed to be representing the rural vote?
Obviously, they don’t regard those who are incapacitated by their working environment to be part of their constituency…

Like or Dislike: 6  0 (+6)