E tū welcomes New Plymouth Living Wage vote

E tū has welcomed Tuesday night’s decision by the New Plymouth District Council to pay the Living Wage to its directly employed workers.

The Council voted to pay the Living Wage of $21.15 to eligible workers from 1 July 2020.

E tū Team Leader, Jen Natoli says the vote follows years of advocating by local unions for the council to pay its workers the Living Wage.

“E tū, then the EPMU, together with the PSA and the Staff Association have been raising this claim since 2013. We’ve worked successfully with the council since then to lift pay for the council’s lowest-paid workers. However, Council policy had restricted our ability to secure the Living Wage as a minimum.

“Last night’s vote changed that policy and has finally cleared the way for the council’s directly employed workers to receive the Living Wage,” says Jen.

“We still need to win the Living Wage for our council-contracted members, but this is a great start.”

The vote followed the Living Wage election forum in New Plymouth on Monday night, where 23 out of 24 candidates committed to supporting the Living Wage for directly employed council staff.

Fifteen candidates also supported the Living Wage for the Council’s contracted workers, as well as including the Living Wage and decent jobs in Council procurement practices.

Councillor & former Mayor, Harry Duynhoven has been a vocal advocate of the Living Wage for years and current Mayor, Neil Holdom and Chief Executive, Craig Stevenson have also supported Living Wage principles for council staff.

E tū local government delegate, Toni Kelsen is ecstatic at the Council’s vote.

“It’s pretty impressive to finally see our community and Council supporting the workers who keep our community tidy and provide services we all benefit from,” says Toni.

“It’s been a long time coming and I think the forum our union organised helped push this decision through.”

E tū delegate, Stephan Reijmer agrees.

“This is an excellent outcome, exciting and life-changing stuff! It’s nice to see local government staff being valued for our contribution to our community,” he says.

ENDS

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