Staff at a well-known Kiwi company walked off the job this morning to strike for a living wage following a pay offer one man described as a “kick in the guts”.
E tū delegate for Resene Lui Betham was outside the company’s Lower Hutt headquarters this morning in his paint-stained work clothes alongside a crowd of supporters pushing for better pay.
Prior negotiations had soured after Resene offered an average of 76 cents per hour extra to workers, many of whom are just above the minimum wage of $23.50.
Resene also offered a 2% increase to two allowances, equating to a 26-cent increase on meal allowances for lengthy shifts and 28 cents extra for a first aid allowance.
Betham today said he and other workers were striking to push the company for a better offer.
“The pay offer was pretty much a kick in the guts.”
Betham said it meant a lot to see a couple of hundred people show up for the strike, even people who did not know the workers.
“They don’t know us, but it’s really lovely to find out that there are humans out there that will help just us common people and trying to get a better wage for the brothers and sisters of Resene.”
Living Wage Aotearoa New Zealand launched a campaign a few months ago calling on Resene to pay the living wage- currently $28.95. The living wage is a regularly revised hourly rate that its proponents consider is the minimum to provide workers and their families with the basic necessities of life and modest leisure activities and rainy day savings.
For employers who sign up to it, the wage is set as a base rate for their staff.
Following a period of negotiations with its unionised workers, Resene offered the average 76-cent per hour increase, and the increases to the allowances, which add on to the $13.21 meal allowance for shifts over 10 hours, and increase the first aid allowance by $21.45 a year.
In response, union members unanimously agreed to take strike action today.
Fellow delegate Margaret Jackson spoke at the strike, explaining how she supported her elderly mother and barely had enough money to get by on.
“We want wages that reflect our value and help us keep up with the cost of living,” she said.
“The cost of living continues to rise. We can’t afford to cover our basic needs.”
The crowd cheered as Jackson said, “We are important, we matter”.
“Now is the time to step up and give your workers what they deserve. We are not asking for a lot, we’re asking for the bare minimum.”
St David’s Anglican Church assistant priest, Reverend Alison Robinson, also addressed the crowd, congratulating everyone for “being brave enough” to attend.
“This is not a new thing, this campaign, but we’re not going away,” she said. “We’re going to stay here until the job is done. This kind of campaign takes persistance.”
She referred to a media article recently about New Zealand companies being awarded big Government contracts. She said Resene director Nick Nightingale was interviewed for the article, and spoke about Resene benefiting from this.
“Resene have benefited from this kaupapa, and they continue to benefit, but we feel outraged that the benefit is not being felt by the workers,” Robinson said.
“So yes, we support the big contracts but we want to see that affect everybody.”
Robinson’s church, along with community groups, managed to fundraise enough money to cover the Resene workers’ wages for today’s strike.
Living Wage lead community organiser Finn Cordwell said this was “a rare display of community uniting with workers”.
“This kind of direct community support for workers has not been seen in decades in New Zealand.”
Cordwell said about 45 workers were striking today.
Members of the community packed out the crowd of a couple of hundred people, waving flags and signs and cheering as passing cars tooted in support.
Signs bore messages such as “$0.76 an hour is an insult”, and “no need for greed, pay them living wage”, as well as “hey shareholders, how about sharing?”
Other signs said “it pays to paint with Dulux”, and Robinson carried a sign saying “living wage for God’s sake”.
Lower Hutt’s mayor-elect Ken Laban spoke to the crowd, saying he was proud that the Hutt City Council was a living wage employer, and that accredited living wage employers were the way of the future.
E tū co-president Muriel Tunoho also spoke, giving a message to the Kiwi company: “Resene, you can’t keep painting over poverty wages.”
Resene, which has its head office and main manufacturing sites in the Hutt Valley, yesterday provided a short statement to the Herald.
“Our offer is consistent with the manufacturing sector annual wage increase for the current 12-month period. We will continue to negotiate in good faith with the E Tū union, who represent a small segment of our manufacturing workforce,” a spokesman said.
An email sent to multiple members of the community from managing director Nick Nightingale earlier this year said the company did not intend to join the living wage scheme.
“The living wage concept was developed by a group based in Lower Hutt in 2012 and is a blunt approach that focuses on a union-style position that workers should be paid the same pretty much irrespective of their contribution and performance,” the message reads.
“A poorer-performing worker would likely receive the same increase as an excellent performer and so on. This is not an approach I agree with.
“I believe strongly in providing pay based on merit and offering training and development opportunities to our team to help them to continue to grow in their current role or move into higher level roles with us.
“Many of the reported statements, including those made about others in our industry, are false and disappointingly misleading.
“A quick check of the living wage register shows there are no other companies in our retail or manufacturing category engaged with the programme.”
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years. She is not related to Resene’s Nick Nightingale.