Council staff may gain pay rise
Those working for Hamilton City Council could become some of the highest paid minimum wage earners in the country.
But it’s best to wait until 2021 to send in your CV, when the wage increase would take place, if approved.
Included in the Draft 10-Year Plan, out for public consultation from Thursday, is the mayor’s proposal to increase staff minimum wage to $20 an hour.
Mayor Andrew King wanted to jump to $20 from July 1 of this year, but councillors voted to stagger the increases instead.
King’s option would cost $5m over ten years; while the favoured option would cost $3.84m.
His option was deemed the easiest to implement, as no further interventions would be required until the statutory minimum wage was increased beyond $20. However, setting a minimum hourly rate above the Government’s minimum hourly rate would create relativity concerns between staff salaries across levels, the plan said.
An amendment put forward by councillors Paula Southgate and Angela O’Leary was deemed the more favourable option.
They agreed council staff deserved a pay rate of $20 per hour, but said increases should be divvied out in a four-year implementation.
Increases would begin as of April this year, at $17 per hour, $18 per hour in 2019, and $19 per hour in 2020. The increases would come to a halt with $20 per hour in 2021.
The motion was declared carried, with only councillor Garry Mallett and Deputy Mayor Martin Gallagher dissenting.
Waikato Chamber of Com- merce chief executive William Durning said there were unanswered questions surrounding the proposed pay increase.
‘‘I’d be wanting to understand the timing better,’’ he said. ‘‘And what are the potential unintended consequences and how does council communicate that?
‘‘On the basis of a minimum wage, there wouldn’t be a person in the country who wouldn’t want to see people who do incredibly hard work being paid fairly.
‘‘But what happens to the rest of the people within the pay group if you implement such a move? If you’ve got people who are paid more than the [current] minimum wage but are paid less than the living wage, are you also required, in being fair, to move all those pay rates accordingly?’’ he said.