Hutt City Council votes to pay staff the living wage

Wednesday, 6 June 2018

The Hutt City Council moved to grant it's lowest paid workers - including pool and library staff, the living wage at a Community Plan Committee meeting on June 6.

There was a round of applause as Hutt City Council voted to pay its lowest-earning staff the living wage.

Councillors voted to introduce the living wage for all directly employed staff during a Community Plan Committee meeting on Wednesday night.

From July 1 this year, 230 Hutt City Council staff who currently earn below the living wage will have their pay bumped up to $20.55 an hour.

The change is understood to affect many staff who work at the council's libraries and pools.

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Council survey results showed implementing the living wage this year was the preferred option (49 per cent) ahead of increasing the council's minimum wage to $20 per hour this year (26 per cent) or increasing the minimum wage to $20 per hour by April 2021, in step with the central government's commitment (25 per cent).

Wellington regional co-ordinator of the living wage movement Lyndy McIntyre said it was great the Hutt City Council had joined Wellington City, Auckland and Greater Wellington Regional councils as employers committed to granting the living wage to all direct employees.

The decision showed Hutt City Council were listening to the community who had shown a lot of support for the living wage.

She said it was a great step forward for directly employed staff and hoped people working for council contractors would soon join them.

The vote passed with nine councillors for the motion, two against and one councillor who abstained.

Mayor Ray Wallace voted for the living wage and said his decision was not based on political ideology.

'It's an issue about paying our lowest paid workers and giving them a feeling of self-worth and value.'

Cr Campbell Barry, who has been a long time living wage advocate, said the affirmative vote had been a long time coming.

'This will make a big difference for 230 [council staff] that earn below the living wage. A key thing is we as a council can take a leading role in paying the living wage [in the hope] that other employers will follow suit.'

Cr Chris Milne was one of two councillors who voted against the motion and said the qualification of leadership was if others followed. There were thousands of businesses in Lower Hutt, he said, and the majority of businesses did not pay the living wage and would choose not to do so in the future.

Both he and Cr Leigh Sutton felt the responsibility of setting policy around the living wage lay with the central government.

He said the role of councillors was to ensure rates from their constituents were spent on the greatest priorities facing the city and thought it strange that the council saw it as a priority to lift wages above market level for some workers.