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Hundreds attended a Lower Hutt meeting supporting Resene factory workers’ call for a living wage.
Workers shared their struggles to survive on low wages, despite long tenures and responsibilities at Resene.
Resene’s managing director, Nick Nightingale, did not attend, but a message sent to community members said he opposed joining the living wage scheme.
Hundreds of people have flooded a community meeting in Lower Hutt to support the push for Resene to pay a living wage to its factory workers.
However, the seat set aside for its managing director last night sat empty.
About 300 people packed into St Bernadette’s Church hall in Naenaeto hear workers talk about the struggle to get by on their current wages despite working for the company for more than a decade each.
The Herald previously reported workers were surviving on canned foods and pulling 60-hour weeks to have enough money to “feel human”.
Most involved in the campaign are earning just above minimum wage, which is $23.50 an hour.
The living wage is a regularly revised hourly rate that is considered the minimum to provide workers and their families with the basic necessities of life, factoring in expenses, rest, activities and rainy day savings.
It is a voluntary amount that employers can choose to set as a base rate for their staff.
Despite Living Wage writing to Resene managing director Nick Nightingale multiple times requesting a meeting and inviting him to attend the community meeting, he has not responded and did not attend last night’s gathering.
Resene has also not responded to multiple requests for comment from the Herald.
Nick Nightingale, managing director of Resene, did not attend the community meeting. File photo / Mark Mitchell
Resene’s head office and main manufacturing sites are in the Hutt Valley.
Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry was among those calling on Nightingale and Resene to pay workers more.
He said he had contacted Nightingale and received a reply speaking about Resene paying its workers on merit and claiming other paint companies were not paying a living wage.
“I find Nick Nightingale’s response disappointing from a company that is not reflecting the community values,” Barry said.
E tū delegates and factory workers Margaret Jackson and Lui Betham spoke at last night’s meeting.
Workers Lui Betham and Margaret Jackson spoke at the community meeting.
Jackson said she had worked at Resene for 11 years and was currently doing the work of a supervisor.
“Even with the responsibilities, the company who clearly thinks I have the merit to manage staff . . . still does not pay me a living wage,” she said.
“We work extremely hard every day, working long hours during the week just to make ends meet. It becomes a need, not an option, just to be able to afford the basic needs and try and live with dignity.”
She spoke of a recent car breakdown, which cost her $900 to fix.
She had to skip bills and put others on Afterpay, as well as clear out the savings she had started to set aside to attend a loved one’s unveiling in Niue.
“Here I am, back to square one, which means more time at work and less time with family,” she said.
“The living wage is more than just a number, it is a step forward to healthier communities, fairer systems, and a society where us Resene workers no longer have to trade our wellbeing for survival.
About 300 people joined a community meeting at St Bernadette's Church hall in Naenae, Lower Hutt last night.
“Everyone deserves to thrive, not just survive, especially myself and Resene colleagues.”
Betham, who has worked at Resene for 13 years, said he makes $1700 a fortnight, after tax.
“My rent is $1200 a fortnight, then I have my other bills: power, internet, phone, child support and anything my children need,” he said.
“By the time I have paid all of my bills, I don’t have much left and I still have to buy groceries. And we all know how the price of food is really high.”
In response to some negative feedback after media coverage of the campaign, Betham said he wanted to make it clear he and his colleagues were “grateful for having a job”.
Lui Betham and Margaret Jackson are Resene factory workers and E tū delegates who have joined the campaign calling for Resene to pay employees a living wage. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
“We know we are not the only place that hasn’t got the living wage, hence the reason for asking Resene for the living wage. In a perfect world, everyone would get the living wage.”
The meeting ended with a unanimous community vote in support of the Resene workers and encouraging Resene management to enter into wage negotiations with its workers in good faith.
An email that has been sent to multiple members of the community from Nightingale, 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.”
Speaking to the Herald, Mayor Barry said he had contacted Nightingale as a courtesy to let him know he would be attending the meeting.
“He wasn’t that keen on me attending, in his response, and said that he had some concerns about that and didn’t feel as if it was appropriate given that accreditation around the living wage is not something that’s being looked at through the entire industry.”
Barry said he was invited by and on behalf of the community, and the effect of the living wage on council staff was always something he would speak on.
“I was fortunate to meet some fo the workers at last night’s meeting who are below the living wage. They’re incredibly passionate about their jobs, many who have years of experience in working with Resene, some of them in management roles.
“To hear the stories of them not being able to pay for their rent or after paying for their rent and bills being left with very little, the impact that has on them and their family, you can’t help but feel the desperation that sits behind the families of some of those workers.”
He felt all employers should “take on board” what employees were saying about living like that.
Barry noted many businesses in Lower Hutt choose to pay a living wage, and not all of these have gone the extra step to be added to the accreditation list.
“I think it’s a good thing and we should all get behind it.”
NB: The author has no connection to Nick Nightingale.
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.
