PSA welcomes pay rise for health workers

The Public Service Association welcomes the vote to accept a National Terms of Settlement (NTOS) that will deliver an across the board pay rise of 2% to 43,000 health workers - 15,600 of whom belong to the PSA - who work for the country’s district health boards.

The NTOS was negotiated by the PSA, the NZ Nurses Organisation (NZNO), the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) the NZ Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) and the 21 district health boards.

The 43,000 health workers covered by the NTOS belong to the NZNO, PSA and SFWU. The 15,600 who belong to the PSA work in a variety of jobs that include: mental health and public health nurses; administrative jobs such ward clerks, medical typists, booking clerks and clinical coders; and range of other jobs that include physiotherapists, laboratory technicians, anaesthetic technicians, dental technicians, speech therapists and social workers.

The health workers that belong to the three unions have voted to accept the National Terms of Settlement. It will provide all of them a 2% pay increase to their base salaries plus agreed processes for dealing with national and local restructuring, dispute resolution and problem solving and implementing healthy workplace systems.

“We welcome the vote to accept this land mark agreement covering 43,000 health workers,” says PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff.

“Achieving a 2% across the board pay rise for this many health workers in the current economic environment is a major achievement.”

“This agreement is the result of the parties involved agreeing to work together in a constructive way to achieve an outcome that all the parties can live with.”

“These organisations are parties to the Health Sector Relationship Agreement which was established to build better working relationships between unions and employers in the health sector.”

“The leadership these organisations have demonstrated shows that a collaborative problem solving approach can deliver results that work for all the parties involved.”

“As well as the across the board pay rise for 43,000 health workers this agreement also addresses a specific pay issue concerning administrative staff at South Island district health boards,” says Richard Wagstaff.

These South Island DHB workers, who belong to the PSA, took industrial action late last year because their pay rates have fallen behind those of staff doing the same administrative work at North Island DHBs

The NTOS agreement provides pay rises averaging 5% to 6% for the South Island DHB clerical workers. The bottom pay rate for the South Island staff is lifted from $27,641 to $31,110 which is on a par with the bottom rate for North Island DHB staff doing the same administrative work.

“This agreement provides a significant boost in pay for workers doing essential administrative work at South Island DHBs,” says Richard Wagstaff.

ENDS

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