West Auckland's The Trusts to implement living wage for entire workforce
Tuesday, 9 February 2021
West Auckland employer The Trusts will start paying its staff the living wage from April.
It has taken more than a year to get to this stage after Portage Licensing Trust voted paying the living wage was “the right thing to do” in September 2019.
The licensing trust is part of a two-trusts organisation under The Trusts banner that has a monopoly on pubs and liquor stores in the West Auckland area.
In Official Information Act documents sighted by Stuff, the publicly-owned body previously said it did not want to pay 69 per cent of its staff the living wage because it would not help its image.
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The documents, dating from 2017, said some customers already saw the Trusts as 'fat cats' and any perception they were paying more for booze to fund higher wages wouldn't help 'favourability' towards the organisation.
However, from April, more than 300 staff across 35 retail stores, hospitality venues and hotels will receive the pay rise.
Those currently on minimum wage will receive an increase of $1.35 per hour.
The rise will cost the organisation about $350,000 in the first year.
Both the Portage and Waitākere licensing trusts have committed to fully adopting the living wage by 2023.
In a media release, Waitākere Licensing Trust president Linda Cooper said it set a new standard for the hospitality industry.
“We want The Trusts to continue to be a great place to work, and we believe the decision to move to a living wage further strengthens our commitment to our team and to the West Auckland community we serve.”
The Trusts chief executive Allan Pollard said its team was focused on lifting its performance in the coming months.
“Our focus is on becoming a high performing business that delivers value and support back to West Auckland.
“To do that, we are working hard to better manage our costs and lift our sales and service performance, so we continue to deliver important initiatives like this for the community and our people.”