Source: PSA
Fifty-one West Coast home care support workers will be striking on Thursday October 23 in support of their claim for a fair pay offer and training they need to do their work safely.
The workers, who are PSA members, voted overwhelmingly to take strike action following the failure of Health NZ Te Whatu Ora to meet their concerns about better training and to make a pay offer that reflects their value to the health system. They have been bargaining since May.
The strike will run from noon to 2pm on Thursday 23 October and these workers will also hold two-hour stop work meetings in Greymouth, Hokitika and Westport on Monday 13 October.
They will join more than 11,500 Allied Health workers and 3,500 Mental Health Nurses and Assistants and Public Health who are also striking on 23 October in support of their own claims in various collective bargaining.
“The Government must fund health services properly, so that workers have enough money to live on and can continue to help New Zealanders facing challenges,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“The home community support workers provide high quality, in-home care for the elderly, people experiencing mental ill health, and patients requiring pre- or post-operative care at home,” Fitzsimons said.
“These workers go into homes alone and never know how they will be received by clients or their families. They can face difficult and sometimes dangerous situations where they can be verbally or physically abused,” Fitzsimons said.
“That’s why these workers need training in how to de-escalate tense situations and how to free themselves from unwanted contact.”
“Health NZ’s pay offer, which is below the cost of living adds insult to injury for this group of workers who were part of a pay equity claim that was retrospectively scrapped by the Government in May,” Fitzsimons said.
Home community support worker and PSA Delegate Rachelle Richards said she and her fellow workers like all healthcare professionals were “gravely concerned about the chronic underfunding of the sector.
“The underfunding puts a lot of pressure on workers, but we’re also worried about the effects of short-staffing and budget cuts have on patients. Our services save money by reducing the need to acute and crisis care.
“The employer’s offer is not good enough – it doesn’t recognise all the work we do under increasingly difficult circumstances. It doesn’t acknowledge our training needs nor the increasingly complex environment we work in.
