Palmerston North City Council rejects paying staff living wage

Tuesday, 29 May 2018

Palmerston North councillor Lorna Johnson pushed for council staff to be paid the national living wage.

Moves for Palmerston North council staff to be paid either the national living wage, a city-specific living wage, or get their minimum wages to rise, have all failed.

A council committee spent nearly two hours on Tuesday debating what to pay the lowest-paid council workers, only to make no changes at all.

Palmerston North councillor Brent Barrett says a city-specific living wage would tout the city as the $2 shop of the national economy.

The full council is not expected to reverse the committee's position.

Councillor Lorna Johnson pushed for the national living wage, saying the money would be spent in the city, contributing to the local economy.

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'It's about valuing the people who do some of the less pleasant jobs at council, like sorting recycling.'

The Palmerston North City Council had a goal of 90 per cent of residents being satisfied with their standard of living, she said.

'What better way to start that than with the people working for the council?'

Cr Aleisha Rutherford said the council went out with a neutral idea about the living wage, and submissions were 51 for, two against.

'We have asked for feedback from the community and they have overwhelmingly supported it.'

Cr Susan Baty said the money used to pay the living wage could go towards other things, such as more social housing.

Cr Lew Findlay said Baty's argument swayed him.

'Can I accept people on fixed incomes paying $1 more [in rates] for more social housing? I probably can.

'Can I accept $1 more for people to get more pay? I don't think I can.'

Cr Brent Barrett said he was initially interested in the Palmerston North-specific living wage, but later decided it was against the council's ideas for a small city thinking big.

Mayor Grant Smith suggested putting money into the Long Term Plan to raise the council's minimum wage, with some room for relative pay rises throughout the council.

But that idea was also shot down, with multiple councillors noting the national minimum wage was set to rise to $20 an hour by 2021.