Council urged to pay $18.80 living wage

Tauranga City Council is being urged to pay a living wage of $18.80 per hour.

Tauranga City Council has been urged to make Christmas memorable for its bottom 50 "impoverished" employees and begin lifting their wages to $18.80 an hour.

Retired engineer Chris Lee yesterday tabled a petition asking the council to close the income gap, including to bring the most low paid up to the "living wage" of $18.80.

He said it was not ethical for the council to pay staff at a rate that was below a living wage. "It's nearly Christmas, it's the season of giving," he said.

The council responded by agreeing to consider introducing a living wage policy as part of its review of salary bands for its 2015-25 long-term financial plan.

Mr Lee wants the council to progressively increase minimum hourly rates until they reached $18.80 an hour.

He also suggested that the council "balance" its payroll by freezing top-end salaries and progressively reducing pay increases up through the ranks in order to close the gap between between the highest and lowest paid.

Mr Lee said the council had a leadership role in addressing inequality which correlated with growing social ills.

He highlighted the recently published salaries of council chief executive Garry Poole ($343,000), Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby ($143,000) and Western Bay District Mayor Ross Paterson ($105,000)

"I find myself wondering if Mr Poole is more than twice as wise as Mayor Crosby, and if Mayor Crosby is 50 per cent wiser than Mayor Paterson."

Mr Lee said the truth was that the pay of local authority chief executives was protected by a ratchet system that guaranteed their salaries would increase at a rate unrelated to the job or the realities of the average ratepayer.

He contrasted the salaries of council chief executives which had nearly doubled over 12 years with those at the bottom whose pay was anchored by the minimum wage of $14.25.

Although the minimum pay had risen by 80 per cent in the same 12 years, it actually represented a total increase of $5.75 an hour before tax. "A miserable 50c per hour per year."

Mr Lee understood there were between 15 and 50 council employees being paid around the minimum pay rate, with a suggestion they were mainly poolside lifeguards.

Councillor Catherine Stewart backed the drive towards a minimum wage, saying the gap between the top and bottom salary bands had dramatically increased.

Mr Lee said he was not proud at how inequality had grown so rapidly, with New Zealand going from a highly-regarded egalitarian society to now ranking near the top of the First World's most unequal countries.

Councillor Matt Cowley was the only opposing vote.