Manukau chief gets $35,313 pay rise

The chief executive of Manukau council was this year given a $35,313 pay rise - a 9.4 per cent increase - despite restrictions on other council staff and the pressures of the recession.

Manukau Mayor and Super City mayoral candidate Len Brown and four councillors decided on August 31 to raise Leigh Auton's salary from $376,766 to $412,079.

This is nearly five times the 2 per cent salary increase Mr Brown and councillors approved for the other 1000 staff in this year's pay round.

Last night, Mr Brown defended the pay rise, saying Mr Auton had done an outstanding job bringing staff and the political wing through the challenging times to the Super City. Mr Brown said the pay rise was based on a formula in Mr Auton's contract from when he was appointed chief executive in 2006.

The council had a history of good employer-employee relations and would not act unilaterally against the chief executive, he said.

Among the four big city chief executives, Mr Auton has received the largest pay rise. Auckland City chief executive David Rankin's salary has barely moved from $447,600 to $453,000 and North Shore chief executive John Brockies has gone from $372,800 to $381,327 - a 2.2 per rise.

It is not possible to do a comparison for Waitakere chief executive Vijaya Vaidyanath, who only started in April 2008. Her remuneration package for 2008-2009 was $400,023.

PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said a double standard was becoming all too common whereby senior staff in the public sector and local government were able to access large pay increases while frontline staff were being denied them.

Manukau city councillors also voted to accept a 2.76 per cent pay rise this year when other councils in the region told the Remuneration Authority to freeze the pool from which they draw their salaries.