Pay rise for thousands of health workers welcomed

Trade unionists are welcoming a pay rise for thousands of health workers.

After five years of negotiations, 16,000 thousand Allied, Public Health, Scientific, and Technical health worker have won an average 20% pay rise.

The settlement includes an interim pay adjustment backdated to last November and a lump sum payment of up to $10,000. People working in more than 120 professions are covered including social workers, ambulance paramedics, hospital dental assistants, and sterile sciences technicians.

Public Service Association Delegate Te’i Tuiasau told Pacific Mornings that it's a major move towards pay equity.

"We're really stoked that we have finally been recognised by our employer especially with the cost of living.

"I think people can now focus on having more time with their families. So the 20% is a great start and a huge boost to the undervaluation of gender-based professions."

PSA Delegate and Allied Social Worker, Natalie Agarkov says: "It is an historic justice to see pay corrections after nearly five years of organising for this claim, and many more years of Allied workers being paid less because work done by women is undervalued."

Te Whatu Ora Chief People Officer Andrew Slater told Pacific Mornings: "There's been identified and a case brought forward in 2018 that this work force had a gender bias, a gender discrimination, in that they weren't being paid when you compared them to other roles that we have here in Aotearoa."

Slater says Te Whatu Ora employs nearly 5,000 Pacific workers in the health service.

Watch the full interview with Te’i Tuiasau on Pacific Mornings:

Watch the full interview with Andrew Slater on Pacific Mornings: