Issue #895

by Simon Edmunds - Queenstown Workers Collective

We want Queenstown workers to have a voice.

So often we hear the views of groups who are very concerned with supporting local businesses, but for whom workers seem a disposable resource rather than real people and families who also deserve to live healthy, fulfilling lives in the town they keep running. We’ve been telling the other side of the story and advocating for workers to be planned with, rather than planned for.

One of the most critical issues is the lack of affordable accommodation. Local workers Hannah Sullivan and Lindsay Waterfield have organised the Queenstown Housing Initiative protests to draw attention to the appalling plight of local employees living in their cars and tents - homeless in a town of such extreme wealth because greed has trumped common sense and decency.

They have strategies worth pursuing: strong regulation of AirbnBs and empty housing in the district, using a percentage of hotel rooms for workers accommodation, emergency housing being provided by QLDC, and more employer supplied housing that is fit for purpose - not just another way to make more money. International models show that these strategies can be successfully put into action.

We think decent wages are a vital part of solving the issues long term, so that workers can actually afford to make choices about how and where they want to live, rather than being shipped into temporary accommodation then moved on once the season is up.

Queenstown people are not just tech bros, tourists and the ultra-rich. We are drivers, teachers, librarians, nurses, cleaners, builders, hospo and retail workers - we are the oil that keeps this town running.

The Queenstown Workers Collective have set up a website mySlice to bring transparency and fairness to the local job market. Many local jobs are not advertised listing the pay, forcing applicants to go in blind. Backpacker and migrant workers are doubly vulnerable, as they are less likely to have a good understanding of what the standard pay rates should be in their sector, their rights as workers, or the legal obligations of employers, which leaves them ripe for exploitation. We support our migrant colleagues so that they can become a valued part of our community.

We applaud good work practices, celebrate our best employers, and believe positive employee experiences will make local businesses stronger. But we also bring attention to substandard conditions, inadequate wages, and illegal practices in some workplaces that need to stop.

We encourage all local workers to join their union, to use mySlice to inform and empower themselves, and look forward to more people joining the Queenstown Workers Collective to help make this place a better home for the people that keep this town ticking.