Opinion: Wage increase will raise standard of care

Rest home worker Kristine Bartlett has good reason to be happy with the Government's $2 billion pay equity package announcement in Wellington. Photo/Mark Mitchell

Some time ago, a colleague called me and asked what, if any detail, I thought could be published from a court case involving an aged care worker.

The worker had committed an act that was unspeakable, involving an elderly person in their care, who was bordering on catatonic.

The victim could not cry out for help, and was subjected to a disgusting act that was virtually unprintable.

It shone the spotlight on an industry that paid workers poorly, and in doing so occasionally attracted unskilled workers who cared little for the people in their care.

Thank goodness that people like Equal Opportunities Commissioner Judy McGregor and caregiver and E tū member Kristine Bartlett shone the spotlight on the majority - hardworking New Zealanders who do care about those physically less fortunate than themselves.

Ms McGregor posed undercover as a retirement home care worker in 2012 as part of a year-long inquiry.

Her report concluded that aged care was a form of "modern-day slavery".

Also in 2012 , Ms Bartlett brought an Equal Pay Act case against her employer, Terranova Homes, alleging gender pay discrimination.

The result of both challenges to the industry was the negotiations between union E tū, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, the Public Service Association and the Council of Trade Unions to work on a settlement.

It led to minimum wage rare of $19 an hour from July 1.

That will rise, depending on experience and qualifications, to between $21.50 and $27 an hour from July 2021.

The increased pay rate will reward the existing workers who deserve to be paid for the sterling work they provide, and it will also attract people to the industry.

In particular, the elderly deserve a high standard of care in their latter years.

Our newborn are tended by highly qualified professionals in their initial minutes or hours of need.

As we age, we should feel safe and content that at the opposite end of our life cycle, we will be looked after appropriately.