Support workers left out of pocket by fuel costs
Tarsh Dixon’s clients are some of New Zealand’s most vulnerable people, and right now she says she’s paying to care for them.
The Auckland-based community support worker looks after people in their own homes using her own car to get there, but her rising fuel costs aren’t matched by the mileage rates set by the Government. Currently, she receives 58 cents a kilometre.
She said the latest petrol price hike would be the last straw.
‘‘It’s costing workers more to fuel up than they’re earning from their travel rates. A lot of the staff will leave, and vulnerable people will be left in the lurch.’’
On Friday, prices at Waitomo petrol stations jumped by 17 cents to around $2.87 a litre for 91, and diesel soared 30 cents to $2.26 a litre. Premium petrol prices topped $3.50 in most parts of the country last week.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said on Thursday it was ‘‘quite clear petrol prices will continue to rise while the impacts of the Russian invasion are felt’’.
Dixon said her petrol cost had doubled if not tripled in the past fortnight, and this week she had to delay paying some bills so she could keep going to work.
Her clients are elderly, disabled, or receiving palliative care. They receive support to shower, dress, take medication and eat.
‘‘We need our mileage rates increased to tide us over, at least while there’s a crisis.’’
Dixon, her colleagues, and their union want the mileage rate increased to at least 79c per kilometre – the rate set by Inland Revenue.
Pam King is another support worker who said the numbers no longer added up.
She’s been a support worker for a decade, and averages 200km a day driving to her clients, but now wonders if it’s even worth getting the car out of the garage.
‘‘It just cost me $150 and five days earlier it was $130. I can’t afford to keep subsiding the Government.’’
E tu¯ union spokeswoman Kirsty McCully said the Government needed to take urgent steps to address the issue and stem an exodus of workers from the sector.
‘‘We know the Government can’t control the price of petrol which is rising swiftly because of Russia’s war, but it can set the rate support workers are reimbursed at.’’
With most workers earning the minimum wage, and already battling for better masks and rapid antigen tests, the petrol hike was pushing them over the edge, she said.
‘‘This is a group that has faced every disadvantage you can possibly face in employment,’’ said McCully.
‘‘With our ageing population we definitely cannot afford to lose support workers now.’’
Health Minister Andrew Little said in a statement that travel reimbursement rates were usually set at a level that allowed for price volatility over time, and didn’t usually change because of short-term price fluctuations.
‘‘The contracting companies carers work for should be talking to DHBs about whether there is capacity to increase travel payments under current contracts.’’
The Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act 2017 provided for an annual pay rise based on the Labour Cost Index. The most recent increase was 1.576 per cent, backdated to July 1 last year.
DHBs and unions representing workers have started the negotiating process for the next renewal, with a higher mileage rate among the unions’ claims.