Council of Trade Unions media release

18 February 2011

Government must accept sleepover decision now

The Government’s claims about the flow-on impact of the Court of Appeal decision on sleepover shifts worked by disability support workers were tested in court and were found to be wrong, said the CTU today.

CTU President Helen Kelly said: “It is time the Government faced up to the fact that disability support workers have been grossly underpaid for years. 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.”

The Court of Appeal upheld the Employment Court decision that disability support workers should be paid the minimum wage for sleepover shifts. In reaching its decision the Court of Appeal stated that it was not persuaded by arguments that paying disability support workers the minimum wage for sleepover shifts would have profound implications for the labour market generally.

“These workers are some of the lowest paid in New Zealand and the Government is effectively saying they should not even get the minimum wage when they work at night. These workers work nights and days to make ends meet, doing very important, responsible work and are currently being paid as little as $3.77 per hour,” said Kelly. 

“The Government has even suggested they might change the minimum wage legislation, presumably to remove the right to a minimum hourly rate. This would affect not just these workers but all workers in New Zealand working on or close to the minimum wage. This Government sees workers as beneficiaries that should be grateful to be working at all. They feel obliged to meet ‘obligations’ to investors such as South Canterbury Finance and to business and the wealthy with tax cuts but are very ready to override the most basic entitlements of workers.” 

“The Government must stop its campaign of inflating the cost of the Court of Appeal decision and recognise that it needs to address the chronic underpayment of disability support workers. The Court of Appeal decision is clear. Disability support workers should be paid the minimum wage for sleepover shifts. They are currently paid as little as $3.77 an hour for these when the minimum wage is $12.75 an hour and due to rise to $13 an hour on April1.  The ongoing cost of paying these workers even the miserly minimum wage is $20 million per year – not the much larger amount they are claiming and much less than they have paid to myriad other groups recently.”

“Threatening to change the minimum wage legislation is a desperate response. It would destroy everyone’s right to a living wage. What safeguards would there be for other minimum waged workers that their rates would not be undermined?”

ENDS

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