Revealed: Auckland Transport Introduces Voluntary Pay Cuts

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has been informed that Auckland Transport is introducing a pay freeze and voluntary pay cut scheme for staff below the executive level.

Non-executive staff paid above $175,000 are asked to forego 7.5% of salary for six months and those paid between $100,000 and $175,000 are asked to forego 5% of salary for six months. There will also be no salary reviews as previously scheduled for September, and staff on special leave are being asked to make other arrangements as of the end of Alert Level 4. Together with the pay cuts, these measures are expected to save $5-6 million.

However, it turns out that savings from previously-reported pay cuts for Auckland Transport executives are being stashed in an ‘Executive Hardship Fund’ to dole out to lower-level staff.

Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Jo Holmes says, “Auckland Transport employees are not losing their jobs, ratepayers are. So why is the Council setting up a ‘hardship fund’ for employees with arguably the best job security in the City?”

“It is not a pay cut if the money just goes into a fund for other Council staff. That is pay redistribution over which ratepayers have no say and do not support. A true pay cut is when a Council boss’ money is given back to the ratepayer, not to the staffer down the corridor.”

“Our inbox has been flooded with messages from ratepayers who are disgusted at the high salaries revealed in yesterday’s Auckland Town Hall Rich List. Clearly some branches of the Council are listening to public opinion, but they defeat the purpose of pay cuts when they just shuffle the money to other staff. Savings from Executive pay cuts should be used to ensure that the Council does not reach deeper into struggling families' pockets by hiking rates.”

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