The 29th of March marked 1,000 days that 65,000 mainly female care and support workers have waited for the Government to fund their pay equity claim, meaning they have missed out on about $18,600.
In 2017 legislation increased the pay of care and support workers to 21% above the minimum wage. This increase was in recognition that care and support workers have been historically underpaid because the sector is female dominated.
The 2017 legislation had a five-year time limit, which expired in June 2022. Since then, as a result of successive governments’ refusal to fund a new pay equity settlement, about 65,000 mainly female care and support workers are losing $145 a week they are entitled to. That amounts to $18,662 each.
With no new pay equity settlement being agreed, care and support workers have seen their hard-won pay equity settlement eroded by inflation and the failure to maintain relativity above the minimum wage, says Melissa Woolley, an Assistant Secretary with the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
"The failure to fund a settlement is a major and shameful breach of human rights," says Woolley, who is a former care and support worker.
Where the fight began
In 2017 a pay equity deal was enshrined in legislation by the then National-led Coalition government. The deal settled a successful court case brought by Lower Hutt aged care worker Kristine Bartlett that she was not receiving equal pay as required by the Equal Pay Act.
Only after the legislation expired in 2022 were the three unions representing care and support workers - PSA, E tū, and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) - legally able to raise a new claim on behalf of care and support workers.
"A thousand days have passed with that claim remaining unsettled. In that time our analysis shows that care and support workers are losing $145 each week, which means workers have been ripped off by $18,661.66 each," Woolley says. "This has caused financial hardship and deep distress."
What lost wages mean
Care and support workers across the motu shared testimonies on how the $18,000 would have made a real difference to their lives – the lost wages enabling them to pay for groceries, settle overdue bills, go to the dentist or doctor, or to enrich the lives of their families. Andy, a mental health support worker, was one of them.
“I would have used this money to support my parents—buying them a house and ensuring they can travel back home to Samoa regularly. My dad recently battled and overcame stage 1 cancer through radiation treatment, so being able to provide financial stability and opportunities for them to reconnect with home would mean everything to me,” he says.
The cost of caring
Woolley says the workers covered by the legislation care for some of the most vulnerable people in our community including the elderly, disabled people, those with mental health and addictions needs and injured people.
"Care and support workers enable those who need care to live with dignity and receive the assistance they require.
"Since 2022 successive governments have been ripped off women workers, effectively using their commitment to the people they support, hard work and lost wages to subsidise the provision of care and support for the vulnerable in our communities," says Woolley.
"We call on this Government to follow the lead of the previous National-led coalition, settle this case and remedy this massive injustice," Woolley says.
PSA analysis of lost wages is based on the 21% margin above the minimum wage that care and support workers received in the 2017 settlement. The settlement rates, or the minimum wage rate, whichever was higher has been compared with what the rate would have been if the 21% margin had been maintained. The comparison is based on a 30-hour work week.
