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# Revealed: ‘Living Wage’ trickles up to higher paid staff
- URL: https://goodoil.news/revealed-living-wage-trickles-up-to-higher-paid-staff/
- Published: 2021-07-05T22:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2021-07-04T22:42:53.000Z
- Author: General
- Tags: NZ, NZ Politics, Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 01:54

**Taxpayers Union**  
Louis Houlbrooke

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When Porirua City Council announced it was adopting a “Living Wage” policy, it sold the idea to ratepayers as a way to help workers on the bottom rung, just enough for them ‘to live a life of dignity’.

![PCC graphic](https://storage.ghost.io/c/31/f4/31f4e20a-0315-499e-83ff-139e8eab53bf/content/images/taxpayers/pages/1730/attachments/original/1625201960/pcc_living_wage.png "PCC graphic")

But we have [now revealed](https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/taxpayers/pages/1730/attachments/original/1623730384/OIA%5F21-056%5Fcopy.pdf?1623730384&ref=goodoil.news) that for every council worker who was bumped up to the Living Wage, another three higher-paid workers also received a pay hike in the name of ‘relativity adjustments’.

> In other words, the Council exploited public sympathy for high-vis workers to give a handout to back-office staff. And they did it during a pandemic when ratepayers and businesses were cutting back.

This should serve as a warning to all Councils: the intention to help low-paid workers is noble, but other staff are likely to demand commensurate pay hikes.

**Please share so others can discover *The BFD.***