Care workers acting to protest 1% offer

Pact care workers will take industrial action this month to protest a 1% wage offer.

From October 20, intellectual disability and mental health care workers in Dunedin, Hokitika, Greymouth, Oamaru and Balclutha would decline to do a range of paperwork, Service and Food Workers Union Dunedin organiser Ann Galloway said.

Invercargill workers who were members of the Public Service Association would join them.

Further actions, the nature of which had yet to be determined, had also been approved.

It was hoped mediation between the parties on October 17 would head off the industrial action, Mrs Galloway said.

The union sought an increase that recognised a 5.3% cost-of-living increase, she said.

"These workers are deeply committed to their work and their clients."

"However, they are feeling undervalued and frustrated by their employer."

Pact director of corporate services Paul Chamberlain said a paperwork ban had serious implications and Pact was considering its options.

The action involved about 200 staff, he said.

A 1% increase was the best Pact could offer.

"We can't be paying people more than we receive."

 

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