Rest home workers striking for pay rise

Up to 600 rest home nurses and caregivers were today planning strike action voicing their dissatisfaction with their Guardian Healthcare bosses.

The staff, workers at 21 Guardian Healthcare rest homes around the country, want a 5 per cent pay rise.

The registered nurses, caregivers and support staff want the pay rise amid concerns the private sector is falling far behind the public sector after it received pay rises, Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) spokesman Alastair Duncan said.

The New Zealand Nurses Union (NZNU) and the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) are also backing the strike.

"Aged care workers are paid a pittance for the essential work they do in our communities," CTU president Ross Wilson said.

"They do work of enormous value and there is strong community support for paying these workers at a better level."

A spokesman for Australian-owned Guardian Healthcare this morning told National Radio it could not do anything until district health boards made a decision to up the amount they paid the company.

"I would be surprised if this was not the end of the industrial action but it depends on how long we're going to have to wait to hear from the DHBs around what funding is available for us this year."

But NZNU yesterday said Guardian Healthcare was a profitable company and it could well afford pay increases.

The unions are asking for a pay increase that would put caregivers on an hourly rate of $11 to $14.

They also want a range of $17.60 to $23.50 an hour for registered nurses.

In Thames, Tararu Rest Home and Hospital workers were today planning a novel protest -- they will march single file through the town with signs saying "WE CARE" pinned to their fronts and "GUARDIAN DOESN'T" to their backs.

SFWU advocate Stephanie Thomas said Riverleigh Rest Home caregivers and support workers in Lower Hutt were striking after rejecting a 2 per cent pay offer.

"This employer is paying some of the worst rates in the sector and the 2 per cent offer is an insult to staff."

She said the company had even tried to make staff pay for their uniforms.

- NZPA