Grey Power has thrown its weight behind the Etū and PSA Unions in their efforts to get the Government to honour a pay deal which took two years of tough negotiation and several court decisions, including the Court of Appeal, to finalise.

After years of lobbying, the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act finally came into force in 2017 and provided $2 billion over five years in wage rises to care workers in residential aged care facilities, as well as those who care for frail, older, disabled and injured people in their own homes.

Residential care worker Kristine Bartlett, in whose name the original case was taken and who was named New Zealander of the Year in 2018, and received a CNZM for services to equal pay and advocacy has expressed disappointment at what is happening at present.

This is because almost on the eve of the Government’s Budget and with the expiry date of the 2017 pay settlement looming on July 1 there is nothing to replace it with. In spite of numerous union efforts to discuss the issue with the Government for most of last year nothing has been done.

Grey Power Federation President Jan Pentecost said there was a great sense of betrayal and disappointment among advocates for older people and others who have to rely on specialist care workers in their twilight years.

Recently a Ministry of Health official told aged care workers that it was not now possible to get a paper to Cabinet, less than two weeks out from the Budget moratorium, there was no mandate to progress the discussions.

Pentecost said it was simply unacceptable to let aged care workers down in this way and she supported a suggestion of industrial action to force the issue.

“I find it very hard to reconcile this development with the same government which recently announced a plan to support seniors who choose to stay at work after retirement age. Either the Ministry of Health has failed to keep the Government properly informed or the Government has abandoned frail older people and the carers they rely on for their very lives.”

The Ministry of Health proposed an 18-month extension of the 2017 legislation, with a three percent pay rise, which is less than half the current rate of inflation but Pentecost said that was adding insult to injury and nowhere near enough to maintain pay equity between care workers’ wages and relevant comparable groups.

“These aged care workers have gone well beyond the call of duty during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic and now to have their hard won wage settlement, which was far from overly generous, thrown out in such a cavalier manner is not what we expect of any government. We are both sad and very angry,” Pentecost said.

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