AVERAGE, MINIMUM AND LIVING WAGES

The Zambian Government has recently raised the minimum wage. This is not before time, as the cost of living continues to rise, making Zambia one of the most expensive countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It is good, too, that this rise appears to be non-negotiable. There have been the predictable complaints about stifling investment and threats of redundancy from the usual suspects - agri-business, construction, the mines and the Employers’ Federation.

Annual inflation is around 10%. According to the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, the JCTR’s Basic Needs Basket’s (BNB) for June 2012 total amounts to K3, 395,660 for an average family of five living in Lusaka. See www.jctr.org.zm

The new basic wage, although an improvement, is woefully inadequate. Another JCTR survey shows that low incomes and high living costs make it impossible for people to save any money. In fact, it is even worse, as families all over the country are reducing the number of meals they eat, to eke out family income, so that they can reach pay-day. By raising the tax threshold to K2m or $400, the Government has helped to take many low-wage earners out of the tax bracket.

The minimum monthly wage for domestic workers has increased from K256 000 ($50) to about $105 (K525 000). The wages of other workers - such as shop assistants, farmworkers, and construction workers, will increase from $50 to $220 (K1 100 000).

Almost two thirds of the Zambian population of 13 million people live on a dollar or less a day, and only around 500,000 people are employed by the formal sector, according to the country's Central Statistical Office.

However, with these recent measures, Zambia seems to be giving a nod in the direction of the post-war Beveridge ideal of full-employment, something that was the political consensus here in Britain until the 70s, when tackling inflation became more important than decent jobs for the working population. Now, casualisation, short-term contracts and minimum-waged jobs are the norm.

Since inflation reduces the value of money, neo-liberal governments and the financial sector wish to control it tightly. As a result, we are now beginning to see: greater poverty, a wider gulf between the rich and poor, and the smallest amount of disposable income for many since the 1930s, as people lose their jobs and have their pensions cut.

  Here in Scotland, Members of the Scottish Parliament, MSPs, are trying to ensure that private companies who work for public organisations pay their staff a "living wage" to help those many families who suffer from “in-work poverty”. Child poverty campaigners reckon that 60% of Scottish children live in such households.

The lowest paid worker for the Scottish government now earns at least £7.20 an hour. MSPs want this to be the case for all workers from private firms on contract to the government. £9 billion is spent by Scottish authorities to pay for services provided by private companies, but between a quarter and third of these workers earn less than the living wage.

To make the living wage a condition of any government contract, may breach European Union law some complain. However, European Law is not the Law of the Medes and Persians yet, and should not be used as an excuse to stop doing what is right.

  The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports that a couple with two children now need to earn £36,800 a year to have a "socially acceptable" standard of living in Britain. This has increased by one third in 4 years, due to rising childcare costs, food prices, utility bills and transport costs, combined with cuts to benefits.

The minimum income standard (MIS) study was commissioned by the Foundation and undertaken by Loughborough University. Its main finding was that increasing numbers of people in Britain live below what is an acceptable standard of living. This MIS standard includes earning enough to eat a balanced diet, run a car and heat a house.

A couple with two children each need £18,400 a year.
Single people need £16,400 a year.
A single parent with a child needs £23,900 a year.
A pensioner couple need £12,000 each.

Like the JCTR basket, the breadline is not being considered, but instead a level of income that is required for an acceptable standard of living.

Childcare has risen by nearly a third since 2008.

Travel:
Bus fares have doubled in 10 years.
Public transport has been cut, so for a family with children, a car has become essential.

The minimum weekly amounts for “socially acceptable” life essentials are listed below.

Childcare: £147.85
Beds and bedding: £3.29
Garden equipment: £0.66

Meat: £18.08
Vegetables: £11.27
Snacks: £3.65

Parent social activities: £30.00
UK holiday: £18.52
Birthday gifts: £8.42

Car: £60.25
Public transport: £12.38
Cycling: £1.40

(Based on a couple with two young children with a weekly income of £685).


All this talk about minimum wages, living wages, MIS or BNBs in Scotland, Britain and Zambia leads on to the question: "What is the world's average wage?". The United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO) recently had a go at working it out.
First, they worked out the total wage bill for every country in the world. To do that, they took the average salary from each central statistics office, and multiplied that amount by the number of earners in each country. Unfortunately, the data covered only 72 countries and only formal wage earners were counted - not the self-employed or people on benefits, so in some countries the data is incomplete. Then they added the total wage bill for each country, and divided that by the total number of earners in the world. That gave an average salary of $1,480 (£928) a month, which is almost $18,000 (£11,291) a year.

The ILO then used a specially adjusted exchange rate called Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars. One PPP dollar is equal to $1 spent in the US. This is because it is cheaper to live in some countries than others. In other words, it takes account of what dollars can buy in each particular country, compared with the United States.

Some Average Salaries in PPP$:

Luxembourg:  $4,000 Monthly; $48,000 Yearly
US & UK: $3,000 Monthly; $37,000 Yearly
Bulgaria: $1,500 Monthly; $18,000 Yearly
Tajikistan: $225 Monthly; $2,700 Yearly

The world average comes to $75 a day for a 20-day working month - but a third of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day, and no account has been taken of child labour, pensioners, children and stay-at-home parents, and the self-employed. The number of self-employed is also huge. In developed countries, about 90% of working people are paid employees, but that figure is much lower in many developing countries.

In Zambia, most people are self-employed or work as independent farmers, and less than 20% of workers are salaried. In the same report, ILO Global Wage Report 2010/11, the PPP$ minimum wage for Zambia was given as $77 per month or $924 per annum, which is not the same as the average, but nonetheless it gives a good idea of the starting threshold. In 2011, Zambia was surprisingly awarded middle income status by the World Bank, with an annual Gross National Income per capita of $1160, even though the average national wage remains under $100 per month.

GREGOR & SARAH’S WEDDING

We have been out of circulation recently.

Last Wednesday, we set out as the vanguard of the Waddell Clan’s outing to North Wales and Chester, for Gregor and Sarah’s wedding.

We took over 2 holiday houses near Wrexham for a week. Ruairidh and Lucy had arrived on the Tuesday from Zambia, and caught up with Gregor overnight in Chester before moving to be with us. Fiona had already flown home to Australia. Their second baby is due on 19 September.

Keith, Ida and Mubita left Edinburgh and went through to Catriona’s and Kirsten’s to pick up some of their katundu. They would be travelling down the next day with Stuart and baby Iona and what with prams and other infant impedimenta, their boot would be packed tight.

We continued comfortably down the M6, then M52, and finally to the North Wales Expressway to Rossett. We took a short break at a service station outside Lancaster, where Keith was bombed by a gob of guano from a low flying bird of the air. This we took as a good augury for the forthcoming nuptials!

We met up with Sarah, Gregor, Ruairidh and Lucy, and had a convivial family supper at a local inn that evening.

On Thursday, we got ready for the Glasgow contingent who arrived in the afternoon. Another expedition that afternoon was taking Lucy and Mubita shopping for shoes without the benefit of reins, or the pushchair, which was still to arrive from Dubai. Ida suffered a similar misfortune with her luggage both on the way to Washington and on the way back. So it is not just on the Jo’burg – Livingstone run these things happen.

On Friday, Gregor had the day off, so he came to join us for his last day and night of bachelorhood. It was good spending time in the Church, Northgate in Chester, seeing the creative and artistic way Sarah and Gregor had decorated the sanctuary. We helped to decorate and prepare the hall for the reception. That evening we organized a braai for both families.

On the Saturday, the maids of honour withdrew to Chester to visit the hairdressers and to dress, while the groomsmen and lady arrived at our house to get ready. Ruairidh was best man and Kathy and Anthony, both from Auchencruive student days, were together with Sarah’s sister’s husband, Paul, and the others. It was a kilted affair, reflecting the groom’s Scottish extraction. Other than a thunderstorm over lunchtime and the non-arrival of the groom’s family taxi, the wedding was a relaxed and laid-back event. The Church was full of family, friends and their children, including the confetti elves; Mubita, Leo, Nancy and Lucy.

The service was made especially personal and memorable through the warm message delivered by Brian, the vows led by Dave, the readings by Sally and Keith, and the prayer offered by Laurence and Bethan. This was followed by canapés and champagne while the photos were underway. The Bride and Groom then arrived at the reception for the vegetarian buffet. An English Country Dance Band provided the music for the ceilidh, held in the Church building, after the meal. The cake was cut and served during the interval. The last dance took place, the bride and groom left and those remaining returned the seating in the sanctuary to order for the Sunday Service.

We had a good family time on Sunday, with various comings and goings. After breakfast, Stuart, Kirsten, Iona and Catriona all left for Glasgow. We had Mum and Dad around for lunch, and Gregor and Sarah for supper. The newly-weds left on honeymoon on Monday. We drove Ruairidh and Lucy to Manchester airport on Tuesday evening. They are now safely back in Australia. We arrived back in Edinburgh, a week after leaving.

On Friday we had an interesting lunchtime spot at St John’s Episcopal Church, as part of the Festival of Spirituality and Peace. As part of the World Church in Action, we were invited to take part in a conversation about our work in health and education at Mwandi, sharing about our faith and how this was connected to social justice, development and peace. The Convener of the World Mission Africa & Caribbean Committee, Rev Dr Russell Barr, chaired the discussion. We appreciated seeing some friendly faces from World Mission as well.

On Sunday we were invited back to Callendar Kirk. We took part in the service and had the opportunity to let the congregation see how important teamwork was in our work, and the commitment it required to work together with others at Mwandi, in the Church, the hospital, schools and wider community. We were able to show a PowerPoint simultaneously, to reinforce this. It was good to meet up with old friends there afterwards, and enjoy some special fellowship over lunch.

Sharing the Burden

25 May is a continent-wide public holiday, Africa Freedom Day. It was chosen by the African Union then (the OAU) as a celebration of the African people’s determination to free themselves from colonialism and foreign exploitation.

Yesterday afternoon we set out for Sesheke. That is the District HQ which is about 70km upstream on the border with Namibia. As usual we were killing two birds with one stone but more about stones later

Our first concern was the father of the little baby girl, Liseli, whose mother had died in childbirth. He had phoned us to let us know she needed more milk formula. We agreed to meet him at the Social Welfare Office for the hand-over. We arrived to the family waiting for us. Liseli, is now no longer sickly, but a healthy, active little two month old baby. After giving the milk Liseli’s asked if we could drop his son at Simungoma as he was being sent to the wife’s family farm to bring back food that they needed. God’s provision in all this was evident as we had been sent a gift for him which had arrived this week.

We also caught up with the District Social Welfare Officer. He would arrange the payment for some bags of maize purchased for Kandiana next week. The heavily-pregnant woman being held in prison had been released by the Magistrate and was back at home in Masese. This is near the Health Centre that we are working with an Irish Jesuit organisation to rehabilitate. We were able to report that Mubita’s mother too, is responding well to the monthly visits and treatment at the Psychiatric Wing at Livingstone Hospital. Ida reported too on the most recent baby to be put on formula as the mother has become psychotic and was refusing to feed the baby.

After some organisational teething troubles on the ground, work on the UCZ Sikuzu Community School has finally commenced. The Steering Committee is now in place and assuming its role to ensure effective and efficient use of resources, human and material in the construction process. Our suppliers had difficulties with a bearing on their truck and were reluctant to deliver to such a ‘remote place’! After much negotiation and assurances that they would not get stuck in sand, they came to Mwandi earlier in the month to pick up the 200 pockets of cement they were to deliver to Sikuzu earlier but could not because of the truck difficulties. There were steel bars and conforce to move as well that we were storing for them.

The first tranche of funding came through the IPC in March and all the cement and materials were bought then and have now been delivered to Sikuzu. There will need to be another three deliveries to bring all the cement that has been ordered. The 704 pockets are enough for the slab and superstructure to ringbeam level. The other 286 bags will be ordered later for the floor screed and plastering.

As you can see from the photo, brick-moulding is progressing apace and work has now begun on foundation footing. 60 tonnes of stones are required for the concrete for the foundations, the slab and ringbeam and our nearest quarry is on the farside of of Sesheke. Hence our trip yesterday. The stones by themselves cost K8 142 000 ($1800 or GBP1200) but the six trips to deliver them will cost much the same K8 051 400!

This morning we have just had a rather distressing visit from a teaching colleague. His nephew, one of our Grade 8 boys, went fishing on the river the day before yesterday in the afternoon to check the nets set earlier. The mukolo (dug-out canoe) he was in, was smashed by a hippo and he fell into the water. All that has been recovered is his jacket. The Uncle was asking if the Mission boat could be used to look for the body....