TEU Welcomes SIT As The Tertiary Education Sector’s First Living Wage Employer

Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union welcomes today’s news that the board of Southern Institute Technology has decided to become a Living Wage employer. This means nobody who works for SIT or any businesses contracting to the institution will be paid below $22.75 per hour. Workers directly employed by SIT who have been paid below this figure will receive pay increases backdated to the 1st of April 2021.

TEU organiser Daniel Benson-Guiu says “it’s fantastic to see SIT recognising the need to do everything in their power to ensure all staff associated with their institution are paid a Living Wage and we look forward to more employers in our sector coming to the same conclusion.”

Glenn Stridiron, TEU co-branch president at SIT says “this is a positive statement from the new board. It’s excellent to see them recognising the hard work of those on lower pay, particularly in these difficult times. This is a show of good will and signals good intent for the future.”

TEU has made campaigning for the Living Wage a priority in collective agreement negotiations across the tertiary sector despite the overwhelming majority of its members being paid above this amount.

“We want a tertiary sector that values all staff that work in or around it – from cleaners to professors, we all have a role to play in delivering quality education and everyone deserves to be paid enough to live on” Daniel Benson-Guiu said.

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