Media release: Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand

7 November 2013

Living Wage Movement welcomes Auckland’s step towards a Living Wage

The Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand congratulates Mayor Len Brown’s for his commitment today to taking a step towards creating a Living Wage Council and is celebrating this major step forward.

“This is a positive move toward eliminating poverty rates at the Council and in our largest city,” said the Movement’s convenor, Annie Newman.

However, Annie Newman said the Living Wage Movement was calling on the Mayor and Council to implement of the Living Wage for contracted workers at the same time as directly-employed staff.

Ms Newman said the commitment to an investigation into options for contracted council staff was essential and should be accompanied by an implementation plan if the Council was serious about becoming a Living Wage organisation. 

“The contracted workers, such as cleaners and waste workers, are some of the lowest paid workers in the City and they cannot be left out.”

Ms Newman said there was no shortage of room for redistribution of the existing council budget.  Over 255 council staff are paid above $150,000, 123 above $200,000 and $9.3million per month is spent on consultants and professional services,  while 1500 directly-employed employees are on less than the Living Wage of $18.40 per hour.

“Living Wage Aotearoa NZ welcomes the Mayor’s acknowledgement that council workers cannot live on wages close to the minimum wage,” she said.

“All the community benefits when workers are paid enough to not just survive but also participate in society. The Mayor and many councillors made a commitment to ensure the Living Wage was implemented for contracted workers during the election campaign. We look forward to working closely with Council to achieve this.”

ENDS

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