Caregivers send payslips to minister as protest

Caregivers are to send their payslips to Associate Health Minister Pete Hodgson this week to highlight their low pay and push for an increase in funding.

New Zealanders should be "appalled" that caregivers are paid as little as $10.80 an hour, or $345 in the hand for a 40-hour week, for a physically and emotionally demanding job, said Nurses Organisation aged care co-ordinator Cee Payne-Harker.

"Early child workers and caregivers both provide dedicated services to some of the most vulnerable in our community" she said in a statement.

"Pay in the aged care sector must be addressed urgently before the staffing crisis in aged care becomes a catastrophe."

The call for a pay increase follows last month's 20 to 30 per cent pay increase for nurses by the district health boards and marks the beginning of Caregivers Week.

* The Holidays Act will cost District Health Boards an extra $50.3 million a year, the Act Party says.

Health spokeswoman Heather Roy said she got the figure from Health Minister Annette King through written parliamentary questions.

The Holidays Act came into force on April 1 last year.

Ms Roy said it meant hospitals and rest homes had to pay their staff time and a half and give them a day in lieu for working public holidays.

She said DHBs were already under huge financial pressure, and the extra cost came on top of the $413 million over three years to pay for nurses wage increases.

- NZPA