CTU calls on Govt to accept ruling on carers' pay

CTU president Helen Kelly. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) is calling on the Government to meet its responsibilities and fund IHC providers so they can pay staff on sleepover shifts the minimum wage.

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld an Employment Court decision against an IHC provider which had paid a shift allowance of about $30 and was opposed to an hourly minimum-wage rate.

Health Minister Tony Ryall yesterday said it would cost more than $500 million over three years and questioned where the money would come from.

Changing minimum wage legislation is one of the options the Government is considering in response to the ruling.

CTU president Helen Kelly said today IHC workers were some of the lowest paid in New Zealand and the Government was effectively saying they should not even get the minimum wage when they worked at night.

Ms Kelly said the Government was inflating the cost of meeting the court ruling.

"The Government pays IHC to deliver care services and now it must concede that it has the responsibility to meet IHC's liability for the underpayment of wages," she said.

The Green Party said the ruling showed people working in the disability and community mental health sector had been underpaid for far too long.

"Workers on their sleep-over shifts are away from their own home and legally responsible for the health and safety of those they are caring for," industrial relations spokesman Keith Locke said.

"Other workers, such as firemen and ambulance drivers, are paid at their full rate during overnight shifts."

Mr Locke said that rather than threatening retrospective law changes, the Government should work with unions and the workers to negotiate a fair way forward.

- NZPA