The Living Wage Movement in Aotearoa New Zealand
by Lyndy McIntyre
The Living Wage means thriving, not just surviving.
Lyndy McIntyre’s Power to Win tells the story of the living wage movement in Aotearoa New Zealand. The living wage movement is grounded in the fundamental belief that all New Zealanders should be paid enough to meet their needs, enjoy their lives and participate in society. Yet, from the 1980s, with the gap between rich and poor growing and poverty increasing, more and more workers could no longer afford to aspire to this quality of life. The question of how to rectify resultant social inequities was becoming urgent.
In Power to Win, McIntyre documents the history of the Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand from these roots to the present day. This is the story of the movement’s efforts to lift the wages of the most disadvantaged people in our workforce – women, Māori, Pacific Peoples, migrants and refugees, and young workers. McIntyre provides a window into the lives of these workers and those committed to ending in-work poverty: the activists, faith groups, unions and community organisations who come together to tilt the axis of power from employers to low-wage workers.
Power to Win is the record of an extraordinarily successful movement. It is a celebration of hope and an inspiring read. This book shows that communities have power and that change can happen.
'Power to Win is a beautiful memoir of the beautiful movement that grew from that idea. It’s a story of fierce hope, deep alliances, smart strategy, and a willingness of many, many people to work tirelessly, on multiple fronts, for wages that people can live decent lives on.' – Rebecca Macfie
'Margaret Mead once observed: ‘never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever had.” The Power to Win is a compelling story about how a small, well-organised group of individuals ran a successful, grass roots, community-based campaign for a living wage and in the process, launched a powerful and unstoppable movement.' – Sue Kedgley, former MP and Wellington regional councillor
Author
Lyndy McIntyre grew up in the 50s and 60s in a time of relative prosperity in Aotearoa New Zealand. In the 70s she became increasingly active in left/progressive issues and her community. Lyndy learnt about unions on the job as a union delegate in the printing industry through the 1980s. In 1990 she started a 30-year working life in unions, with a brief stint as a parliamentary press secretary. In 2007 she was elected to Kāpiti Coast District Council. She served one term and decided that union work was more worthwhile. In 2015, she became one of two paid community organisers in Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2020, she retired from her community organising role and began to write this story of the movement.
Publication details
230 x 150mm, 285pp
ISBN 9781990048753
RRP $45
Release date: July 4 2024
Reviews and Interviews
Unity Books Wellington Bestseller Chart for the week ending 12 July Read
Unity Books Wellington Bestseller Chart for the week ending 19 July Read
Unity Books Wellington Bestseller Chart for the week ending 26 July Read
Interview: Lyndy McIntyre speaks to Suzie Ferguson about the history of the living wage movement for Saturday Morning, RNZ Listen
Interview: 'Let's acknowledge the work our lowest paid do in New Zealand and give them the recognition,” she said. “That value comes with a decent wage, and that needs to be the living wage.' – Lyndy McIntyre speaks to George Heagney for the Manawatū Standard Read
Interview: Lyndy McIntyre speaks to Jesse Mulligan on Afternoons, RNZ Listen
Interview: “These are tough times. It’s tough for families and businesses, those who are working for the lowest wage. A living wage is needed now more than ever." – Lyndy McIntyre speaks to Paul Williams from the Manawatū Guardian Read
Interview: 'Mostly I hope people who’d like to make a difference read the book and feel more hopeful about the potential of people power to win much-needed change for good. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand more about the struggle of living on low wages in our country and anybody who wants to be part of a fairer, better world.' – Lyndy McIntyre speaks to the Sunday Star Times Read
Feature: Power to Win featured by Emma Hatton for Newsroom Read
Interview: Lyndy McIntyre on the Duncan Garner Podcast YouTube Channel Watch
Interview: Lyndy McIntyre speaks to Duncan Garner on Duncan Garner: Editor-in-Chief Live Listen
Interview: 'The book is about building community power to win better wages so that people can have decent lives and participate in society ... The message is that if we unite together and campaign around lifting the wages of low-paid workers then we can win those campaigns and we have.' – Lyndy McIntyre speaks to Aui'a Vaimaila Leatinu'u for PMN News Listen
Review: Oliver Clifton reviews Power to Win for The Spinoff Read
Interview: 'The national convenor of the Living Wage Movement rang me up, while I was walking on the beach, and asked about documenting the movement ... To be honest, I didn’t have a clue what I was taking on, but I thought it was a story that needed to be told, so I decided to do it.' – Lyndy McIntyre speaks to David Haxton for Kāpiti News Read
Review: Paul Diamond reviews Power to Win for Nine to Noon, RNZ Listen
Feature: Erik Kennedy features his poem 'Living Wage Nations', written for the Christchurch launch of Power to Win, on Newsroom Read
Extract: "Somewhere in the past 50 years, between my life in the valley and today, Aotearoa went from being one of the most equal countries in the OECD to one with pronounced inequality of incomes and wealth. We see the results all around us." – Power to Win extracted for Kete Books Read
Review: 'An important historical record, an engagingly written narrative of people’s lives, a personal memoir and a handbook for organisers: this book has elements of all of these approaches. Whether the reader chooses to focus on only one, some, or all of these aspects, they will be rewarded by the insights, based on deep experience that McIntyre is able to offer.' – Mary Roberts–Schirato for Labour History Project Bulletin
Review: 'In this way, McIntyre demonstrates how lessons can both be learned frompreestablished campaigns to help form the basis of new movements but also in how these new actors can then in their own ways forge their own paths forward. Power to Win ends on a call to arms to living wage activists across the world that the solution to low pay will not be found through the specifics of one government, but ‘in a different way of organising, using the principles adopted by successful social justice campaigns in Aotearoa and globally’. It is a hopeful note for McIntyre to conclude on: and, given the successes achieved by the New Zealand living wage movement in their 13 years in existence so far, one that is difficult not to share.' – Calum Carson for British Journal of Industrial Relations