West Auckland's The Trusts pay the living wage immediately to more than 300 workers

Wednesday, 1 September 2021

West Auckland licensing trust The Trusts has brought forward plans to pay the living wage by almost two years.

The move will cost the publicly-owned trusts almost $750,000 a year, and will benefit more than 300 staff across the 35 bottle stores and hospitality businesses owned by the organisation.

The trusts holds a monopoly on alcohol sales in west Auckland.

In Official Information Act documents previously sighted by Stuff, The Trusts previously said it did not want to pay 69 per cent of its staff the living wage because it would not help its image.

* Trusts spent public money on fighting fund to sway public opinion

The Trusts chief executive Allan Pollard says he hopes the move will encourage other hospitality businesses to pay the living wage.

* West Auckland's The Trusts to implement living wage for entire workforce

The documents, which date from 2017, said any perception customers were paying more for alcohol to fund higher wages would not help “favourability” towards the organisation.

In June, Stuff reported that The Trusts spent public money establishing a secret ‘fighting fund’ aimed at attacking a volunteer community group advocating for a local referendum on the issue of their monopoly.

However, as of Wednesday all Trusts staff will receive a wage of at least $22.75 an hour.

In a statement, Trusts chief executive Allan Pollard said he hoped the move would encourage the broader hospitality and retail sector to consider the wages of their staff.

“We would also like to see this move encourage other organisations in the industry to follow our lead and give back to their staff in this way,” Pollard said.

The wage increase will be in addition to a 10 per cent support payment announced last week to acknowledge their frontline staff working during the pandemic. This payment will remain in place during alert levels 3 and 4.

Waitākere Licensing Trust president Linda Cooper, previously told Stuff the living wage represents its commitment to the community.

“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,” Cooper said.