No Real Men Left in NZ?
My son was offended by a letter to the Southland Times that suggested that the reason dairy farmers were having to employ workers from outside New Zealand was because there were no "real men" in New Zealand who were capable of manual labour. I thought my son's response was worth republishing on my blog as it also relates to the Green Party's recently released discussion paper on the ICT industry. I should note that there have been a number of letters also published in the Southland Times suggesting that dairy farmers will continue to struggle getting local workers when the pay and conditions they provide are generally very poor.
After reading Mervyn Cave’s letter
regarding idle youth (January 8) I had to double-check the date on my copy of
The Southland Times. As it turns out, it was not 1963.
In response to a shortage of manual
labourers, he blames an “electronically castrated” generation of men,
constantly “messing about on computers”. As a product design student, I admit
most of my time is spent writing essays, 3D modelling and photoshopping images
on a computer, and very little of it spent lifting heavy things and grunting.
Does it make Mr Cave uncomfortable that such “slugs” designed nearly everything
he owns?
I can imagine many women would also be
insulted at the outdated insinuations that they are incapable of driving trucks
or picking fruit; their role merely to marry and look after the “real men”.
The fact is that able-bodied youth of
both genders exist in plenty, but fulfilling and well-paid work is
increasingly to be found in the digital world. It is not issuing work permits
to “real men from the Third World” that will solve Mr Cave’s labour problem,
but offering real incentives to strong Kiwi blokes and blokettes. Can we be
blamed for trying to escape the rank and file of New Zealand’s ever-expanding
low-wage economy?
Maybe when this government starts
respecting workers at all levels of the food chain they won’t attempt to
upskill and leg it to Australia at the first opportunity they get.
Chris Kennedy
Invercargill
Chris Kennedy
Invercargill
The future of work for young New Zealand men?
Comments
Worik
:-)
Who works harder - the white collar worker, or the guy busting a gut?
Frida
In terms of hours worked many young doctors can work over 80 hour weeks and as a teacher 70 hours a week wasn't unusual. I guess there are many definitions of "hard" work but I guess the bottom line is that all work should be valued and no one who works full time should earn a wage that won't enable them to live comfortably without further financial assistance. We now have a huge number of "working poor" in NZ who cannot survive without financial support to top up meagre wages.
Really? That common?
Does working hard in forestry really kill people? And in fishing?
I can understand them dying from accidents, particularly with the prevalence of cannabis use amongst forestry workers, but dying from hard work in this day and age seems preposterous.
Who else knows about this?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7830401/Most-dangerous-jobs-Farming-fishing-forestry
So, in the 17 years immediately after WW2, 1946 to 1963, it was not uncommon for people to die of hard work?
"People involved in the forest and fishing industry die through high accident rates and farming is up there too:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7830401/Most-dangerous-jobs-Farming-fishing-forestry"
I followed your link, thank-you, and the final sentence said this, in reference to 2011:
Work deaths: Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 1; Construction: 12; Financial and insurance services: 12
Your argument relies on those statistics?
http://www.dol.govt.nz/news/media/2011/improve-forestry-safety.asp
I think you are being a little pedantic about my conversational observation that many people in the past did have to work physically hard and that it took a toll on their bodies. I'm not sure what you are wanting to prove by wanting me to be specific about a general comment regarding the changing nature of work.
farm sheds nz