2 September 2016

Living wage not good business, or good for business

Auckland Mayoral candidate’s revival of paying Council employees a ‘living wage’ is bad business, says Michael Barnett, head of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

The Council considered such a move earlier and voted against it, Mr Barnett said.

The Council doesn’t have to face the same price pressures that other businesses, which are their ratepayers, do.

Simply paying out a minimum of nearly $20 an hour to all employees without asking for better performance or more output is not sound business practice.

It would mean higher rates, by acting as a rising tide of costs as other staff sought more pay to keep parity with them.

This large cost increase would spread through the Auckland economy making Auckland an even more expensive place to live.

The proposal is populist and doesn’t demonstrate real leadership Mr Barnett concluded.

ends

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