Labour / NZ First Government

[couta1]

Interesting angle, i recently met two people who came across this way online and I was surprised how different they were in real life, one in business and the other in social setting respectively. Certainly their bark went no further than online.

I must say all the people I've met off this forum(Probably about 20) are pretty cool sorts and often nothing like you envisaged them to be going by the forum, I'd venture to say that most who don't get on well on here would probably end up having a good laugh and drink together given the right circumstances.

[Bjauck]

Duplicate post

[Bjauck]

Well they should get back to their nuclear physics or brain surgery then or whatever else they have spent years studying for.

So it wasn't that that I had not answered the question posed. Is it that you did not like or agree with my answer? Which is fair enough as that is what forums are all about.

(1) So what do you think needs to happen to solve this mis-match?
(2) What do you think will happen given the current government and current covid situation?

[justakiwi]

That is exactly how I got my caregiver job. I contacted the rest home and asked if they would be willing to train me. I told them I was happy to work for nothing - while I was training. As it turned out they were about to advertise for a casual caregiver so they took me on, and trained (and paid) me. There are plenty of unemployed people who are proactive as I was. We are not all lazy, bludgers and beneficiary bashers need to get that through their thick heads.

The only rest home roles with no client contact are generally house-keeping/laundry roles, and even those involve client interaction, so not sure what point you were making with that comment. Caregiver wages increased as they should have, but they are still not high enough for the work we do and the responsibility some of us have as supervisors in rest homes that do not have an RN on site 24/7.

My go to question when someone tells me they can't find a job - Have you knocked on the doors of the aged care centres? Answer always - no. Pretty sure when higher rates were mandated some rest homes changed job duties for some roles to no client contact. And some closed completely as no longer financially viable.

[fungus pudding]

Not everyone is suited to working in aged care as you well know. It may not be seen by society as a “skilled” job, but it is a damned sight harder than the general public probably appreciates. It is physically demanding - I spend 99% of a 7.5 hour shift, on my feet. A certain amount of lifting/bending/crouching is required, even with the use of hoists/lifting belts etc. It is probably not a job for somebody with genuine physical limitations eg: back, knee, shoulder injuries/issues.

Caregivers need to be able to deal with personal cares such as toileting, showering, assisting with continence products, catheter and stoma bags, bleeding, vomiting, applying topical/internal medications to genital areas and more. It takes a special kind of person to be able to do this, not to mention provide this care in a caring, respectful, patient, tolerant, consistent way. Some people simply can’t handle it. Not everyone is cut out to be a nurse. Neither is everyone cut out to be a caregiver. It is unfair and unrealistic to expect the general population of unemployed people to simply “suck it up” and do these jobs if it’s not something they can physically or emotionally handle.

Same goes for farming. I don’t want someone who is not passionate about caregiving, working with me in our rest home, or caring for my mum in hers. Farmers don’t want someone working for them who are not passionate about farming. Dairy farming is mentioned a lot. Yes, there are a lot of jobs going, but pay rates for dairy farm workers are low. My son works as a dairy farm manager but they can’t afford to pay their staff more than the minimum wage. They also can’t always provide accommodation. Hours are long and rosters vary greatly from farm to farm. There may well be unemployed people who would do this work, but how are they supposed to move their family to a new location, find accommodation, transport, work for the partner and childcare to enable them to do it for minimum wage? It is not always as simple as it seems, believe me.

You'll never meet an apple that's fussy about who picks it.

[fungus pudding]

So it wasn't that that I had not answered the question posed. Is it that you did not like or agree with my answer? Which is fair enough as that is what forums are all about.

(1) So what do you think needs to happen to solve this mis-match?
(2) What do you think will happen given the current government and current covid situation?

You made a series of statements that I did not disagree with, but you did not address the question of why some jobs are not getting filled when there are so many unemployed.

[artemis]

....The only rest home roles with no client contact are generally house-keeping/laundry roles, and even those involve client interaction, so not sure what point you were making with that comment. Caregiver wages increased as they should have, but they are still not high enough for the work we do and the responsibility some of us have as supervisors in rest homes that do not have an RN on site 24/7.

There were a number of media reports at the time of the pay rises and since about role changes and rest homes in financial strife. Seem to recall some roles were changed from personal care to meal prep and serve, cleaning and similar.

Japan for years, and other countries more recently, has had robots carrying out a range of care functions mainly but not only for older people. If there is a supply / demand mismatch there will eventually be a break even point.

[RupertBear]

Yes, you treat anyone who disagrees with you despicably, but whether you realise it or not, you are even more condescending and contemptuous when speaking to women. You are more than a little misogynistic and pretty arrogant. But you don’t need me to tell you that. It is your way of making you feel like a tough guy, when you’re really the opposite.

Tell me ... are you like this in “real life” or is this just a persona you have created because you get your rocks off by winding people up intentionally, just for your personal entertainment? You actually quite fascinate me to be honest. You would make interesting subject material for a psychology class.

Psychology 101 - “The Importance of having Balance in Your Life”

[Bjauck]

You made a series of statements that I did not disagree with, but you did not address the question of why some jobs are not getting filled when there are so many unemployed.

Incorrect. I answered by saying The jobs remain unfilled by NZ unemployed because the pay is too low, conditions too poor.

Why? In the absence of cheap foreign seasonal workers, the employers are not adjusting advertised pay higher to appeal to domestic NZ workers.

Perhaps it does not concur with any answer you have to the question posed? Maybe the skill set of the NZ unemployed makes them unsuited. Maybe they prefer to remain unemployed on the dole rather than work for the pay and under the conditions on offer?

[fungus pudding]

Incorrect. I answered by saying The jobs remain unfilled by NZ unemployed because the pay is too low, conditions too poor.

Why? In the absence of cheap foreign seasonal workers, the employers are not adjusting advertised pay higher to appeal to domestic NZ workers.

Perhaps it does not concur with any answer you have to the question posed?

How much over the minimum wage should they offer, given the number available to work? How much more will consumers pay to eat fruit? The problem is - the growers have to compete with the dole.