29 October 2015

E tū celebrates monumental win at WCC

E tū, the union for Wellington City Council security workers, is celebrating a monumental win as the Council voted last night to extend its living wage commitment to contracted security workers.

Councillors voted 9-6 in favour of the move, fulfilling the commitment made by a majority of Councillors to take all possible steps to pay in-house and contracted workers a living wage. This means that security workers including guards, noise control and cash collection service workers will get a pay rise of nearly 20%.

E tū assistant national secretary John Ryall said the news was fantastic, and showed that WCC understood the benefits of decent wages.

“This is excellent news for our members, and excellent news for all Wellingtonians. The local economy will benefit from having more money in the pockets of its residents,” Mr Ryall said.

“It’s also excellent news for taxpayers, who will no longer have to subsidise the poverty wages that security firms usually pay.”

Mr Ryall said that WCC’s decision was a break in the “race to the bottom” cycle that saw security firms paying the lowest wages possible to win contracts.

“WCC are setting an example for all councils, and indeed all employers and businesses. Having contracted staff on decent wages is as simple as making it a requirement in the tendering process,” he said.

“Fears of ballooning wage bills have been proved unfounded when other councils and businesses internationally have implemented living wage policies, as gains in productivity and staff retention make any extra costs insignificant.

“Above all, it’s the right thing to do. Wellington City Council is proving itself to be an ethical employer by taking real steps towards paying all directly employed and subcontracted staff enough money to live, not just exist.”

Mr Ryall also rejected the claim by WCC chief executive Kevin Lavery that the cost of the contract would increase without any extra benefit.

“That the CE does not think bringing people out of poverty is beneficial speaks volumes. He does not understand that the costs of poverty are spread out across our whole community.

“The Council was elected with a clear mandate to pay all staff decent wages, because Wellington voters know that we can’t have strong communities or a heathy economy when many of our neighbours get paid a pittance,” Mr Ryall said.

Mr Lavery earns $416,160 per annum.

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