At a cost $775,000 annually, the city council has adopted the living wage, but it was not unanimous.

City council employees who are not on the living wage, will see a boost in the next “wage round” near the end of the year, after the city council passed the motion to adopt the living wage at its meeting on Thursday.



City councillor’s David East and Jamie Gough voted against the proposal.

Cr Gough said it was important the public had a say before he would support the proposal.

“Do you want to be a leader or a follower, with ratepayer money? I want to be a follower,” Cr Gough said.

He said there was evidence that paying the living wage increased staff productivity but also evidence that it didn’t.

“That would be like going down Moorhouse Ave and buying a $10,000 car… and they say make an offer and I say $785,000. And they say well that’s $775,000 more than you need to pay for it,” Cr Gough said.

He said he couldn’t help but feel like that’s what the city council was doing with ratepayer money.

There were three options presented – option one, which was passed, was to fully adopt the living wage at the official rate of $20.20.

The second was to partially adopt it, at a cost of $285,000 a year.

The third option was to do nothing.

There are about 470 city council staff who are paid less than the official living wage rate which rose to $20.20 on July 1.

Most are casual, part time or seasonal staff working as lifeguards, swim instructors or customer service assistants in our recreation and sport facilities.

Workers must be paid a minimum of $15.75, however a living wage is estimated to be the wage a worker needs to pay for the necessities of life.

The staff report said all options could be funded within existing budget in this financial year.

But to fully adopt the living wage would require an ongoing financial commitment in the future.

It did not include Vbase staff, contractors or city council-controlled organisations.

The Star requested information on whether the city council would adopt the living wage after city councillors voted to approve the statement of intents for the companies it owned in September.

It had been discussed behind closed doors.

But the city council later refused to release it.

Wellington and Auckland city councils have adopted Living Wage policies.

More soon.