The memorandum, which was tabled on 19 July, proposes slight reductions in base pay but with the addition of large performance-based bonuses. These would result in potential pay increases of up to 33 per cent for the President, up to 30 per cent for Vice-President-tier positions, and up to 33 per cent for other Officers. Honoraria would also be adjusted annually for inflation, which does not currently occur.
The President is a full-time position and currently earns $30,000, and Vice-President-tier positions (which include the Vice President, Finance Officer, Education Officer and Welfare Officer) work 20 hours per week for $13,500. The other Officers, with the exception of the Te Roopu Maori President, work 10 hours per week and earn $4,000.
OUSA Executive pay is among the lowest of any students’ association in the country, with Hernandez earning less than any other President bar AUSA’s Daniel Haines. In contrast, the President of UCSA earns $41,600 and the President of VUWSA $34,500. Hernandez claims that this difference is only partially offset by Dunedin’s lower cost of living.
Hernandez believes that greater potential remuneration is needed to attract a higher caliber of candidate to the Executive. Ideally, Hernandez claimed, Rhodes Scholars and their ilk would run for President, “but instead you get fucking hacks like me.”
Despite this, Hernandez refused to portray the changes as pay increases, claiming that the bonuses would be reserved for Execcies who had gone beyond the call of duty. He identified outgoing Finance Officer Lucy Gaudin and Welfare Officer Ruby Sycamore-Smith as two such figures, but warned that not all of the current Executive would qualify for the bonus.
Gaudin, however, rubbished Hernandez’s claim that the changes were not effective increases. She pointed out that the Executive itself would vote on the bonuses, and would therefore be unlikely to dock their colleagues’ pay. “Most of the Exec are good friends, so they’re not going to vote against the bonus,” she predicted. “The only way to do it would be putting it to the student body.”
Gaudin was ambivalent about the changes. “It’s a representative role, it’s not a job as such,” she said. “It’s about representing students, so there should be a disparity between the Executive’s pay and that of a regular job. … It’s a bit sad when you get to the day that the Exec are motivated by pay.”
The proposed changes will be put to a referendum sometime over the coming weeks.
