Aged Care Association welcomes Labour’s increased wages policy

The New Zealand Aged Care Association welcomes the Labour Party’s announcement that if elected, it will raise the minimum wage for aged care workers within its first 100 days in Government.

“Labour’s support for increased Government funding for caregiver wages is an important and significant step in the right direction for all aged care workers,” says Martin Taylor, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Aged Care Association.

Labour also announced its commitment to starting the process of delivering pay parity for nurses and caregivers in the Aged Care Sector.

“Unfortunately, this level of support for the aged care sector is not across the board,” says Taylor.

“We asked political parties where they stand on this issue. All major parties except for the National Party supported increased Government funding for caregiver wages,” he says.

Pay parity has been an issue in the aged care sector for eight long years. The Government funding requested by the New Zealand Aged Care Association over a three-year period to achieve pay parity for residential aged care workers equates to only 0.8% of the Government’s overall public health budget, or 11% of the surplus planned for the 2014/15 year.

“Labour’s commitment to the aged care sector – to those in and outside of DHB facilities – demonstrates an understanding of the value of these hard working Kiwis,” says Taylor. “I encourage anyone who supports increased funding for caregiver wages to go to our website www.whocares.org.nz to directly tell political parties, using the website’s email function,” says Taylor.

The New Zealand Aged Care Association is running a campaign to support increased Government funding for caregiver wages. The website www.whocares.org.nz allows users to ‘vote’ online to show their support, and email political parties directly from the website. It also facilitates sharing on social media using icons on the footer of the site. All political party responses are available online to download at www.whocares.org.nz/responses.

ENDS

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