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As many as six hundred nurses, caregivers and support staff employed by the Eldercare group of rest homes will stop work for two hours this Monday (19 Nov) in the first ever action of it’s kind. The stopwork meetings, called by the Service and Food Workers Union and the NZ Nurses Organisation, will draw attention to the low pay in the sector and the lack of investment in staff within the industry. SFWU spokesperson Alastair Duncan says low wages and a reluctance by Eldercare to invest in staff training and support are symptomatic of an industry wide problem. “At a time when our rest homes and retirement villages are increasingly controlled by offshore corporations and bankers, as many as one in three caregivers have been trapped on, or close, to the minimum wage. “Eldercare, like many of its competitors needs to step up and put its hands into its own, very deep, corporate pockets. For over a year we have been trying to settle collective agreements with Eldercare and to date the progress has been pathetic.” The stopworks which will run from 9. 30 am to 11. 30 are timed to coincide with a High Court application by the major employers challenging a recent government funding initiative that set a new minimum wage of $12. 55 Alastair Duncan says the government was forced to step in because the industry had failed to address low pay. “The sector seems more interested in throwing money at lawyers than valuing its own workers. “As long as the sector undervalues the carers it undervalues the care those staff deliver to residents.” The stopwork meetings will take place in Auckland, Paeroa, Whitianga, Tauranga, Taupo, Hastings, Taranaki, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. For further information Alastair Duncan Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota |