Pay Equity Claim update

Here is some important information for you on the ongoing Pay Equity Claim that CCS Disability Action is involved in. If you have any questions or would like any further information, you can contact Kate Single: Kate.Single@ccsDisabilityAction.org.nz

Background

In July 2022, three unions, E tū Incorporated (E tū), New Zealand Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi (NZPSA) Incorporated, and NZNO Tōpōtanga Taphui Kaitiaki O Aoteroa (NZNO), filed a Pay Equity Claim for Care and Support Workers (‘the Claim’) against 15 named employers representing the health and disability sector. The purpose of this approach was to enable the established pay equity process to proceed more efficiently. From the beginning, unions and employers aimed to form an agreement that could immediately be extended to all care and support workers outside of the named parties using the funded framework. This is called a ‘representative claim’. Four peak bodies, Home and Community Health Association (HCHA), New Zealand Aged Care Association (NZACA), New Zealand Disability Support Network (NZDSN), and Platform, were invited to represent some of the 15 employers in the process and ensure sector-wide implications were considered in the Agreement.

The 2022 Claim followed a pay equity deal reached in 2017 between the Crown, Funders and union representatives. This applied to all care and support workers in the Aged Residential Care, Disability Support Sector and Home and Community Support Sector. In 2018 it was extended to the Mental Health and Addiction sector. 

Pay rates for care and support workers are mandated in legislation, but due to inflationary pressures and a rise in the cost of living, pay rates have regressed back to minimum wage for many workers. Unions filed a new claim and introduced a maintenance mechanism to ensure care and support workers continue to receive fair pay. The existing legislation relating to the earlier 2017 pay equity settlements is set to continue until 31 December 2023. Despite indicating an intention to resolve the Claim, the Government is yet to determine whether this legislation will continue past that date, leaving all care and support workers in an uncertain position in relation to their pay rates for 2024. Because of these legislative requirements, seeking a full resolution is now urgent.

The process

Pay equity claims are created through a rigorous process to systematically establish whether sex-based undervaluation exists for a profession and, if it does, how much that occupation has been undervalued compared with male-dominated occupations.

The Pay Equity Process is outlined in the Equal Pay Act and overseen by the Public Service Commission. It involves key milestones that are required to be signed off at each stage of the process. The process involved: 

1. Establishing that there were grounds to believe care and support workers were undervalued based on gender. 

2. Interviewing care and support workers about what they do and using that information to build a profile of their job. 

3. Assessing that profile using a pay equity tool that scores different aspects of the work – including the skills, experience, responsibility, and effort required. 

4. Assessing the care and support workers' job profile against comparators in male-dominated professions that require similar levels of skills, responsibilities, effort, and working conditions.   

5. Comparing how these roles are valued differently, and determining how much care and support work has been undervalued.

This is the stage the pay equity claim is currently at.

Key messages

• In July 2022 a Pay Equity Claim for Care and Support Workers was filed by three unions: E tū Incorporated (E tū), New Zealand Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi (NZPSA) Incorporated and NZNO Tōpōtanga Taphui Kaitiaki O Aoteroa (NZNO) against 15 named employers, including CCS Disability Action.  

• Recently the unions have filed a similar claim against a further 167 employers. At the moment this is a separate claim process with the other organisation’s and the unions.

• We are continuing to work through the original pay equity claim. This involves working with the other named employer parties, the three unions and the nine different government funders involved in this claim.

• As one of the 15 employer parties, we remain completely committed to finding a solution that delivers pay equity for our support workers.

• Before we can commence formal bargaining for an agreement, we need to know that the government has set aside enough money to pay all care and support workers at an agreed rate that can correct the undervaluation.

• The employers have been working on ensuring the new government and ministers are aware of how valuable this workforce is and how we can work together to deliver a sustainable, long term and practical solution for this essential workforce.

• We have also been working closely with the unions to continue looking at what a sector solution could look like. Regular meetings have been occurring to work through all the issues so that when bargaining can begin it can happen quickly and easily.

• All employers who are party to this original claim have been prioritising this work and will continue to do so until we have a solution in place.