Living Wage supporters, including the author, mobilised to support this motion.
By Martin Gregory
The Greater Wellington Regional Council, meeting on 28 September, unanimously passed a Living Wage motion proposed by Sue Kedgely. I was one of a group of Living Wage activists present at the meeting. The motion proposed was as follows:
“That the Council:
- Notes that the Living Wage movement is gaining momentum around the world and in New Zealand, where there are nearly sixty accredited Living Wage employers in New Zealand.
- Notes that international research has demonstrated that employers who pay the Living Wage reduce costs associated with high turnover and absenteeism, and have higher morale and productivity in their workforce.
- Agrees that Greater Wellington Regional Council has a responsibility to be a good employer.
- Agrees in principle to become a Living Wage Council that pays its directly- employed staff a Living Wage, and adopts a phased implementation of the Living Wage for employees employed via contractors who deliver Council services, or work in Council Controlled Organisations.
- Agrees in principle that contracting should not be used to reduce pay and conditions of employees employed by contractors who are contracted to deliver services to Council on a routine basis.
- Requests officers to develop a framework for implementing a Living Wage by March 2017 that:
- Identifies what is involved in becoming a Living Wage employer
- Provides a timeline for the phased implementation of a Living Wage for directly employed Council staff, staff employed by Council Controlled Organisations and contractors who deliver Council services on a routine basis
- Provides advice on the impact of a Living Wage on Council’s procurement policy and tendering arrangements, and any changes that would be needed to existing contracting policy so as to ensure that tender processes protect employment security and pay and conditions for contractor employees.”
Recent articles
No Deportations!
by Josh O’Sullivan On Monday night in quiet leafy suburbs in Lynfield, the silence was broken by calls for justice from a crowd of around 50 people. Justice for the 150 Indian students who have been swindled by immigration agents overseas and tertiary institutions here in New Zealand. The National Party was hosting a public meeting at […]
Easter Sunday: Another Attack on Workers’ Rights
By Martin Gregory On 25 August the government majority in Parliament passed the Shop Trading Hours Amendment Act by a vote of 62 to 59. Peter Dunne, David Seymour (ACT) and Te Ururoa Flavell (Maori Party) voted with the National Party, who were whipped for this measure. Marama Fox (Maori Party) voted against along with […]
Our ‘work ethic’ is not the problem
By Andrew Tait John Key came out this week and said it: New Zealanders are just too lazy or drug-addled to work, so we have to bring in migrants to “do a fabulous job” harvesting fruit and veges. It’s a meme that has done the rounds on the media, slyly suggested by employers, farmers and politicians but never […]
NZEI and PPTA stand up to government’s attacks on public education.
By Shomi Yoon Unionised teachers in the secondary, primary and early childcare unions, PPTA and NZEI, attended paid union meeting nationwide to discuss a fightback against the government’s attacks on public education this week. Thousands of teachers filled the Auckland and Wellington town halls to voice their anger and concern about the government’s plans. Thousands […]
National’s disarray – the Emperor has no clothes
By Ewan Tavendale This year’s local body elections probably won’t enlighten us as to which direction the public, or more correctly the various social classes, might be heading politically. Certainly, there is nothing so far to suggest that the local elections will herald a Labour Party revival. However, the local elections are not without interest. […]
“Anti-poverty” group suggests increasing student debt
We live in strange times. In a report released earlier this week, the Child Poverty Action Group – a group formed with the aim of reducing poverty – actually suggested re-introducing interest on student loans. The report did detail the increasingly desperate situation facing all but the most well-off students. Student allowances remain just pitifully […]
The origins of the Labour Party
By Martin Gregory I might state that the museum up on the hill known as Parliament House has little attraction for me but if that machine can be used to benefit the working man and foster industrial organisation, I am in favour of it. W E Parry, January 1913,President of the Waihi Worker’s Union […]
Introducing Gramsci
By Josh Parsons Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist, active in the 1910s and 20s before his imprisonment by the Italian state under Mussolini. It was while he was imprisoned that Gramsci made his most well-known contributions to Marxist theory, including the key concept of hegemony. Gramsci’s contributions are valuable not only theoretically, but for the many practical […]
From the archive
Anzac Day: Against the Carnival of Reaction
On Anzac Day 1967, at the height of New Zealand involvement in the ‘American War’ in Vietnam, with New Zealand troops taking part in the suppression of the Vietnamese struggle for national liberation, members of the Progressive Youth Movement in Christchurch tried to lay a wreath following the dawn service in memory of those killed by imperialism in Vietnam. They were arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour. Feminists a decade later faced down a media-driven public outcry when they laid wreaths to the victims of sexual violence during war.
Lest we forget? It’s more like lest we remember. Anzac Day serves as a carnival of nationalist reaction, a day of public ritual aimed at promoting forgetting: forgetting the real legacy of New Zealand imperialism and militarism in favour of a sentimental nationalism, an anti-political celebration of national unity. [Read More…]
