February 17, 2013

Linda Murphy

Lent 1     Luke 4:1-13

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

Lent is described by Maggi Dawn as ‘a call to turn away decisively from what keeps us from God, alienates us from other people and stops us living well’.

The traditional practice of Lent by the Christian Community particularly, Roman Catholics and Anglicans, is to use these 40 days as a time of reflection on what following Christ means, and resolving to live as a more committed follower of Christ in the world.

To fast or give up anything during the abundance of our late summer and early autumn harvest seems to be an insult to nature’s bounty. In the southern hemisphere the exercise of reflection, to be closer to God or trying to understand the mystery of God, is a more challenging and positive option for these next forty days of Lent.

I have enrolled in Te Reo classes and intend to relearn crochet. A craft my grandmother taught me when I was ten. I want to rebalance my life, not just working and running a home, but allowing myself some leisure time. It will be a challenge that will give me new interests and time for reflection.

Another new challenge has been made this week.

An emancipatory movement has begun a campaign to increase awareness of the plight of the lower wage earners in New Zealand.

A quantified Living Wage of $18.40 per hour for a New Zealand family of two adults and two children, one adult in full time work the other in part time work has been calculated.

On a regional basis the Living Wage for Auckland is however $24.11 which is of no surprise given the higher cost of accommodation.

This hourly rate provides the family with the basic necessities of life. The Living Wage is about having a decent but modest family and community life.

These calculations have been arrived at after considerable research undertaken by Charles Waldegarve and others at the Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit in Lower Hutt.

Many of you may not have heard of this announcement as printed media particularly the NZ Herald has given this very little attention, although the Living Wage Campaign has had a lot of on-line attention on blogs and Facebook to name just two.

We have just heard the devil tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread and Jesus answered, “One does not live by bread alone”. The devil continued to tempt him twice more, in an amazingly visual spectacle. Jesus’s denial to the devil’s temptations gives us an indication that it is a time of redirection. Just as the announcement of the Living Wage is a new direction for our society.

On Thursday and Friday I was fortunate to be able to attend a symposium and workshops on ‘Precarious work and the Living Wage in our Communities’. I found myself surrounded by unionists, academics, MPs, clergy and fellow members of the Diocese Social Justice Council. There were no major employers present. There were a number of international and national speakers, Professor Guy Standing from the University of London was outstanding and has written a book, ‘The Precariat - the new dangerous class’. He is referring to the educated, debt burdened, underemployed young and not so young of our global world. We experienced a glimmer of activity from this class in 2011 with the global ‘Occupy Now’ campaign. Reading his book makes me feel we will be seeing more action from this class in the future.

On Thursday evening at the press launch which was well attended, Margaret Mayman from St Andrew’s on the Terrace, Lynne Firth from Pitt St Methodist’s and our Bishop Jim spoke along with other dignitaries. The church has been involved in the campaign since its inception in New Zealand in 2012. However the campaign has been quietly working all over the Northern hemisphere for a number of years originating in Baltimore in the USA.

Deborah Littman from Vancouver has had hands on experience getting a living wage established. Deborah was in London working with a group called Unison. When the London Council started planning for the 2012 Olympic Games the various community groups of East London, including faith groups, came together and listened to each other and mapped out their needs and desired outcomes for their community. The result was all workers from construction workers to cleaners all were paid the London Living Wage of £8.55. Included were MacDonald’s and Holiday Inn employees with Holiday Inn now making the Living Wage a company policy for all their London employees. This major change was achieved without strike action but by listening and talking to each other.

It strikes me that this was living the message of Jesus. Be there for each other, care for our neighbor – Love one another as I have loved you.

It is very encouraging that our church and other faith groups have a voice in this campaign and let us hope it stays there and they participate as Living Wage payers. I understand two Diocesan School girls are taking their board to task for not paying the living wage to the school cleaners. I wait with interest at the Dio Boards response.

John Key has absolved himself from being responsible for parliament’s cleaners not getting the living wage saying it is the contractor’s responsibility.

There are currently over 339, 095 people in New Zealand receiving benefits and this figure does not include Superannuates.

If you receive the unemployment or sickness benefits and are over twenty five years old your hourly rate is $5.73 and the Single parents’ rate is $10.63

Will the Living wage cause more resentment and anger within this already marginalized group of people?

The Auckland City Mission gave out over 11,000 food parcels between July 2011 to June 2012 and it would be reasonable to expect that the figure will be higher in 2013. The people coming for food parcels not only include the beneficiaries but also the underemployed and those on the minimum wage, which even with the Family Tax Credits and the Accommodation Supplement, does not allow families to pay rent, power and to buy food or other necessities such as medication and clothing.

Food insecurity flows on through all the other issues facing our society such as Child poverty, poor health, poor educational attainment, crippling debt, weak local communities, lack of civil society, high crime rate and inequality. All these factors create more expense for government with an increased health care bill, more people involved with the criminal justice system. The gap between those who have enough and those with not enough continues to widen and the cost of social welfare increases.

The outlook for our society and the world is bleak. The Living Wage offers hope for the working family but not for those already in our social welfare system and frankly their lives are difficult to say the least. Going to WINZ is a very inhumane experience. Their dignity is shredded and then they faced with finding a food bank which will give them food.

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, contemplating what his ministry would involve and how he would bring God’s Kingdom to the world, all the while being tempted by the devil, was no small task. Perhaps during the next forty days we could listen to our neighbours and others in our local communities on what is facing them and the many marginalized in our communities and what we as individuals can contribute. Such as giving food donations, being a volunteer, petitioning MPs, or joining the Living wage campaign. And let us continue to reflect on being closer to the mystery that is God and living life well.