Health admin pay equity welcomed

AUCKLAND: A pay equity settlement that will mean some health administration staff getting a $20,000 raise will be ‘‘lifechanging’’ for the workers, mainly women, a union delegate says.

District health boards yesterday reached a gender pay settlement with 10,000 administration staff, 90% of whom are women.

They were being paid so much less than men in comparable roles in other workforces that some of the workers are getting a 40% pay rise.

Tairawhiti DHB chief executive Jim Green said the settlement puts right years of their work being undervalued.

The biggest increase is for some ward clerks, who will go from about $48,000 a year to $68,000.

It was the first settlement under the new Equal Pay Act.

‘‘This is huge for me,’’ PSA delegate and affected worker Nancy McShane said.

‘‘I’ve been fighting for 13 years to try and improve the poverty wages of administration staff in our hospitals, particularly for the women of Canterbury that I represent. This is very significant.

‘‘Doctors and nurses are extremely important within our health service and it is extremely important that the public support them.

‘‘But equally there are a number of highly feminised roles in our health system that are largely invisible to the public. Administration is one of them.

‘‘I look at our allied and technical colleagues who are striking at the moment — there’s a range of highly feminised roles there which are also highly critical.’’

Ms McShane, a longtime equal pay advocate, said it was particularly important for workers in the South Island, who were paid significantly less than North Island counterparts.

Union delegate and administration worker Nia Bartley, union delegate and administration worker, said achieving the settlement had been a long hard journey.

‘‘It’s long overdue,’’ she said yesterday.

‘‘I’m thinking not only of our current workers but also those who have passed on before this tremendous event took place.

‘‘It is just going to be so lifechanging for a lot of our workers now and going forward.

‘‘We’ve got workers now who are working not just this job but they’re working multiple jobs because they haven’t been able to make ends meet.

‘‘Workers will now be able to spend more time with their families.

The settlement was a ‘‘step towards restoring the mana, the dignity’’ of people who had been underpaid for a long time.

‘‘In the health sector, it’s not just doctors and nurses. Admin workers, clerical workers are an integral part of the health system.

‘‘We’ve been made to feel guilty for years for wanting what’s duly ours.

‘‘This is our right to be paid what we’re worth, and we haven’t been paid what we’re worth.’’ — RNZ