The Public Service Association (PSA) is stepping up its equal pay campaign for DHB administration and clerical workers, in the face of more evidence that these underpaid workers are a last line of underfunding in the health system.

"Not only are DHB admin and clerical workers bearing the brunt of underfunding but we also have evidence now that sites like Middlemore Hospital (Counties Manukau DHB) have been leaving administration jobs vacant as a cost-saving measure," says Kerry Davies, PSA national Secretary.

"It is becoming more and more obvious that the neglect and undervaluation of DHB administration workers, who play an integral role at the frontline of service delivery at our hospitals and who carry growing workloads, has reached a chronic level.

"It is extremely negative to see workplaces like Counties Manukau DHB ignoring the worth of this already stretched and under pressure part of the health workforce by not filling up to 58 vacancies.

"The populations being served at DHBs have kept growing and yet there is a retrogressive cap in place on admin staff. The attitude taken to administration workers - across the country - is that they will keep making endless sacrifices like working in smaller teams and for longer hours to help prop up the health system.

"The poor treatment of DHB administration and clerical workers cannot continue without affecting patient safety. It is simply unacceptable and we will be fighting even harder for the rights of these workers in 2019 to see the Equal Pay claim we lodged with all 20 DHBs in April this year taken forward".

NOTE: This Thursday 20 December, DHB administration workers and equal pay advocates from around New Zealand will be ‘singing for equal pay’ at a carolling event in central Wellington’s Midland Park from 12 noon. For more information please visit https://www.psa.org.nz/media/campaigns/at-the-heart-of-the-hospital/

ENDS

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