Caregivers’ pay
Damien Grant (‘‘Workers won the battle but aged may lose the war’’, April 23) is the first journalist I’ve read or heard make the most salient point of all about workers in aged care. That is, the effect of the increased wages on the elderly themselves.
My brother spent two years in an excellent rest home. I visited him regularly, and was struck by the number of carers – quite a large number male, incidentally – on the staff.
Many of the services he needed were basic, menial tasks and I thought then how fortunate it was that the privately owned rest home could afford to employ so many staff for these everyday, simple needs.
Of course they are unlikely to do so in future – one of the unintended consequences of this legislation. The wellbeing and comfort of the people who are the reason for these jobs existing at all seems to have been overlooked by almost everyone.
Mary Ward, Waikanae
Grant criticises the recent pay deal for aged-care workers as it contradicts the supply-and-demand law. He clearly is of the opinion that following the tenets of neoliberal economic theory is the only way to run an economy. But there are many who believe that social solidarity, concern for the environment, workers’ rights and many other factors must also be considered, and for that reason the pay deal for aged-care workers was the right thing to do.
If we continue to run our societies like businesses following the supply-and-demand laws of the neoliberal ‘‘econocracy’’, then humanity’s course on this planet will soon be run. I, for one, would not miss Grant’s right-wing propaganda.
Laurence Harger, Wellington
For someone who boasts about holding 19th century views, Grant seems ignorant of history when he recites the ‘supply and demand’ mantra to attack the equal pay agreement. Fortunately the lawyer for the winning side knew about the history of occupational segregation confining women to a limited range of occupations. The ‘supply’ was artificially increased by discriminatory practices that devalued women’s caring skills, as the judges understood.
I hope Grant does not end up in old age care where productivity is determined by the outmoded market model of most outputs per minute. If he can’t complete his toileting in under a minute, does he want the pan to be removed so that he can lie in his own urine?
Decent care for vulnerable people, like decent wages for hardworking caregivers, requires the rejection of antiquated views dating from an era when workers had no rights, and women couldn’t vote.
Dolores Janiewski, Wellington