The Living Wage rate has today been announced at $29.90 per hour, with accredited Living Wage Employers having until 1 September to implement the increase. The announcement falls on the same day the Government’s minimum wage rise takes effect, lifting the minimum just 45 cents to $23.95, a 2% increase that falls well short of inflation running at 3.1%.
With fuel prices surging past $3.30 a litre nationally and hitting $4 in parts of Auckland amid the Middle East conflict, low-paid workers are bearing the sharpest edge of the cost-of-living crisis.
More than 340 employers across Aotearoa, in both the public and private sectors, are accredited Living Wage Employers. E tū is calling on more to follow.
Auckland Airport cleaner Talafaiva Lotolua says she is struggling to afford the petrol to get to work.
“ My family moved to Pokeno at the end of 2024, and since then I have been driving from Pokeno to work at the airport Monday to Saturday every week.
“I find it hard to drive my car now because petrol is too expensive. I am struggling, and so are all my co-workers, because everything is expensive now. We cleaners are the lowest paid workers, and this is why we need the Living Wage at the airport.
“We need the Living Wage so we can afford to put petrol in our cars to go to work, feed our families, and pay our bills. This Government scrapped the Fair Pay Agreements, and we are struggling. If I catch the bus from Pokeno, I go to Pukekohe, then Pukekohe to Puhinui, then catch the bus from Puhinui to the airport. It still costs me a lot of money. This is affecting my mental health, physically and mentally, especially when I work from 10pm to 6am. All I need is to go home and rest.
“The airport must be a Living Wage Employer. We look after the wellbeing of the New Zealand community.”
E tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh says the Government’s 45-cent minimum wage increase is an insult to workers who are watching their costs climb every week.
“Brooke van Velden calls 45 cents a ‘balanced approach’. There is nothing balanced about a pay rise that does not even keep pace with inflation while petrol is through the roof and groceries keep getting more expensive. Workers are going backwards, and the Government is making it happen,” Rachel says.
“This is a Government that scrapped Fair Pay Agreements, the one tool that could have lifted pay across entire industries like cleaning and security. They have gutted pay equity to fund tax cuts. The 45-cent increase is just the latest insult.
“The Living Wage at $29.90 reflects the actual cost of rent, food, power, and getting to work. The minimum wage does not come close. Every employer that can pay the Living Wage should be paying it, and Auckland Airport has no excuse. The workers who clean that airport deserve to be able to afford the petrol to get there.”