Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke Van Velden last week announced the Government was discontinuing all current pay equity claims — and raising the bar on lodging new ones.
This week’s hospice awareness week, from May 12 to 18, comes as hospices struggle to keep their doors open because of what they say is insufficient Government funding.
NZNO delegate and hospice nurse Donna Burnett said now its nurses and aides were shattered after losing their pay equity claim despite two years’ of work.
‘Now we have to begin again under new rules which have significantly changed the process.’
“On top of this, with the swipe of a pen and in a blink of an eye, the Government pulled pay equity out from under us.”
Many would likely leave the sector or country in search of better paid jobs, she warned.
The Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa–NZNO hospice pay equity claim was raised in late 2023 and covers 27 hospices where NZNO has members.
At a glance:
New Zealand’s 32 hospices provided free care to nearly 11,000 people who died last year– almost a third of all deaths in New Zealand. They also cared for another 9000 people living with a terminal illness. That support cost $226 million, $114 million of which was provided by Government. Hospices raised the remaining $112 million through its opportunity shops, donations, fundraising and bequests.
After interviewing members about the skills, responsibilities and conditions, along with comparative roles in male-dominated occupations — “comparators” — the work assessment part was nearly complete, NZNO’s pay equity advisor Glenda Alexander told Kaitiaki.
“Now we have to begin again under new rules which have significantly changed the process.”
The hospice claim, alongside nine others for NZNO, was among 33 thrown out by the Government on May 8 when its pay equity law changes passed under urgency.
They are: Aged care and support staff (with other unions); aged care nurses; Plunket; primary practice and urgent care; private hospitals; community nurses and carers; midwives; Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa; Laboratory nurses and staff.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the changes — including tougher bars for claims requiring work to have been done by a workforce comprising 70 per cent women (instead of 60 per cent) for at least 10 years — would save the Crown “billions“.
But Burnett said New Zealand’s aging population meant the crisis for hospices would only worsen unless the Government stepped up to properly fund the sector.
‘Dying New Zealanders and their whānau have enough to worry about without not being able to access hospice care because of short staffing.’
“We are meant to be raising awareness about hospices this week. But the reality is people need to be aware of what’s happening to us nurses and HCAs because it impacts our patients,” she said.
Without enough funding, or pay equity settlement, hospices would keep losing nurses and HCAs to better-paying hospitals, jobs or overseas, she warned.
“Dying New Zealanders and their whānau have enough to worry about without not being able to access hospice care because of short staffing,” Burnett said. “That’s a direct result of Government decisions.”
Hospices ‘at risk of disappearing’
Hospice New Zealand chief executive Wayne Naylor said hospices were “at risk of disappearing“, particularly in smaller regions, due to chronic underfunding.
Naylor said he was “extremely concerned” about the impact of ditching nurses’ pay equity claims, warning dying patients may have to foot the bill.
“If the Government doesn’t act now to invest fairly in hospice care, it is the terminally ill . . . and their loved ones who will pay the price.”
Already, at least 35 per cent of hospice nurses’ current salaries came from fundraising and donations. Hospices simply could not afford to keep funding a widening gap, he said.
“Some have paid their nurses more than they can afford just to keep their nurses and keep providing care. Some can’t even do that and are looking to cut back services.”
The recent Sustainable funding for hospice services report showed hospices were a smart investment, relieving pressure on aged care, hospitals and emergency departments and saving the health system $110 million annually, Naylor said.
‘More robust’ approach — Brown
Minister of Health Simeon Brown claimed the Government was committed to pay equity — but was taking a “more robust” approach.
“Our Government is taking a more robust approach to pay equity, ensuring outcomes are fair, backed by evidence, and deliver lasting value for both workers and taxpayers,” Brown told Kaitiaki.
“The right to equal pay remains as it ever was. Pay parity remains. Collective bargaining remains, and there are no changes to settlements that have already happened under pay equity.”
The Government was committed to removing sex-based discrimination across workforces, including the health workforce which has historically been a large employer of women,” he said.
NZNO to urgently refile pay equity claims
NZNO was urgently working to refile the 10 pay equity claims it had so far raised across several sectors as quickly as possible and would be keeping members informed of progress, Alexander said.
She estimated up to 90 per cent of NZNO’s 62, 500 members could be affected by the pay equity changes — 56,250 members. That included 37,500 Te Whatu Ora members, after a review initiated last year of their $4 billion 2023 pay equity settlement was also ditched, she said.
Unlike pay parity — which is about paying all nurses the same no matter where they work — pay equity is about ensuring workers in female-dominated occupations such as nursing, caregiving, midwifery, teaching and social work are paid the same as similarly skilled male-dominated occupations. Pay equity claims are not part of collective bargaining and can include back pay to compensate for historic underpayment. Pay equity settlements must be regularly reviewed to ensure pay doesn’t lag again.
Find further details here: Pay parity or pay equity or equal pay — I am confused!
Kaitiaki will be providing further coverage of the impact of pay equity law changes on NZNO members in coming days.