Councillors want public f irms to pay living wage within a year
Christchurch city councillors have formally told companies owned by ratepayers to consider implementing the living wage within a year, after a narrow vote succeeded.
However, a bid to ask the same companies to produce targets for reducing top executive remuneration failed as it did not garner majority support.
The votes were taken during a meeting yesterday where councillors discussed a draft statement of intent for Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL), a holding company that creates a non-political buffer between the council and the businesses it owns.
Christchurch Airport, Lyttelton Port and lines company Orion are among the companies overseen by CCHL. The draft statement being discussed is an annual document outlining the company’s three-year vision.
Councillor Yani Johanson put forward issues he wanted the council to give formal feedback to CCHL on.
His proposals were debated and voted on, with a majority of councillors needing to support each proposal in order for them to be included in the feedback.
The first related to senior executive remuneration. Johanson said the ratepayer-owned companies had not done enough in regard to a council call for restraint. He wanted clear targets set to reduce remuneration.
Christchurch Airport’s chief executive, Malcolm Johns, earned $898,640 in the 2019-20 financial year, while Enable chief Steve Fuller was on $1.17 million.
Johanson said the companies had not included remuneration targets in their statements of intent. However, most had noted the importance of remuneration.
In January, the council sent a letter of expectation (a tool used to convey shareholders’ expectations) to CCHL noting that it wanted to see the companies exercise restraint of remuneration. The vote on this amendment tied at 6-6, which meant it failed.
Johanson’s second amendment was for the council to express concern at the slow progress of living wage implementation at ratepayer companies. He called for it to happen within a year for direct employees and within two years for contractors.
The council decided in 2018 to move low-paid workers in the CCHL group onto the living wage within three years. The Press reported in February that CCHL thought it would need more time. It said at the time that its priority shifted post-Covid to protecting jobs.
This amendment ended up passing 7-5. All councillors voted the same way as the previous amendment, except for Aaron Keown.
Councillor Jake McLellan said the council needed to be clear about the time frame for paying the living wage to staff at council-owned companies. ‘‘Simply talking about a living wage is just virtue-signalling, and actually paying it is making people’s lives better,’’ he said.
Councillor Pauline Cotter voted in favour of Johanson’s executive remuneration amendment, saying she supported setting targets. ‘‘They’re always good to have.’’