Cleaners at Venues Ōtautahi are facing the loss of their jobs after the organisation put forward a change proposal that includes outsourcing its cleaning operation, just days before the opening of Christchurch’s new stadium.
Up to 50 cleaning workers are affected by the proposal. Twelve casual E tū members face having their roles disestablished, and five permanent members would be transferred to a new employer under their current terms and conditions. However, any new cleaning staff hired by an outside contractor would have no guarantee of the Living Wage.
Christchurch City Council is a Living Wage accredited employer and directs Venues Ōtautahi through its letter of expectations to pay the Living Wage. E tū says outsourcing cleaning would allow the organisation to sidestep that commitment for future workers.
The proposal follows a failed attempt by Venues Ōtautahi management to remove the Living Wage from new starters.
The new stadium will require up to 250 cleaning staff. Rather than directly employing workers to meet that demand, Venues Ōtautahi is proposing to hand the work to an external contractor. The proposal also flags outsourcing cleaning at the organisation’s other venues.
One worker, who has not been named due to concerns about retaliation, says the proposal has left people shaken.
“It makes me very uncertain. It is very important I am directly employed as I have a family to support.”
E tū Director Finn O’Dwyer-Cunliffe says the move is a backdoor attempt to undermine the Living Wage.
“When management tried to strip the Living Wage from new workers and failed, they found another way to do it. Outsourcing these roles means future cleaners won’t be guaranteed the Living Wage, and the workers who have given years of service to this organisation are being thrown out in the process,” Finn says.
“Venues Ōtautahi says it’s too operationally complex to hire 250 cleaning staff directly, but it has managed to hire 500 people in other roles. That doesn’t stack up.”
Finn says the timing makes it worse.
“Chief Executive Caroline Harvie-Teare is celebrating the strong financial position the stadium will deliver, while workers who have dedicated years to this organisation are being told they might not have a job. These are people with families and bills to pay. They deserve better than to be discarded the moment a new building opens.”
E tū is calling on Christchurch City Council to intervene and ensure its Living Wage policy cannot be circumvented through outsourcing. The union is also calling on One New Zealand, as the stadium’s naming rights partner, to ensure this nationally significant moment is not built on lower wages and fewer rights for workers.
“The council set a Living Wage expectation for a reason. It cannot stand by while one of its own organisations finds a loophole,” Finn says.