The pay gap between public and private aged care workers is evidence of the "fundamental failure of capitalism", Service and Food Workers' Union strategic industrial leader Alastair Duncan says.
Reacting to a leaked Human Rights Commission draft report which found the pay discrepancy was a fundamental breach of human rights, Mr Duncan said DHB carers were paid 16% to 20% more thThe
an their equivalents in the private sector.
"We're always told the private sector's better than the public sector. Well actually, those workers in the private sector are paid less for doing at least the same if not more than is done down at [Southern] DHB."
Despite "whiny" documents like the 2010 Grant Thornton aged care report which highlighted the sector's lack of profitability, corporates seemed to have money for capital spending, but not wages.
The Government bore some responsibility, and should come up with the $140 million needed for pay parity for non-DHB carers, he said.
New Zealand Aged Care Association chief executive Martin Taylor hit back at Mr Duncan's comments, saying he could move to a communist country.
"I think if Alastair Duncan does not want to work in a market-based economy, he should get on a plane and go to Cuba."
He especially took issue with criticism of the Grant Thornton report, which used sound methodology, and had been paid for by the Government.
That report revealed providers were not sufficiently profitable to make investment worthwhile (12% return), with a quarter making a cash loss.
There was little new in the "unsurprising" Human Rights Commission draft report, but it was the first time he had seen the cost of pay parity quantified.
While it would be good to get extra public funding, it did not look likely at present, and the sector needed to adapt.
Dunedin aged care worker Vicki Taylor, who has been in the industry for 32 years, said she felt vindicated by the report, and hoped it signalled proper recognition of the unfairness of the situation.
Private-sector carers were paid less, on average earning about $14.30 an hour, but had greater responsibility, including dispensing medication, she said.
Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew said the Government recognised the disparity, but was not able to meet the cost of fixing it at present.
"Such an increase is unaffordable with current tight fiscal constraints.
"DHBs receive annual cost-pressure funding increases and the Government has instructed them to pass these increases on to the aged residential care sector."
The commission heard from more than 886 people for its report, including providers, workers, unions, and residents.
"Thousands of mainly women caring for older people in residential facilities and at home for barely the minimum wage is an injustice grounded in historical undervaluation of the role.
"However, it is an indignity New Zealand can no longer afford. Pay inequality between home and residential based caring and those doing much the same work in public hospitals cannot continue to be condoned when it is publicly funded," the draft report said.
A spokesman for the commission cautioned that the final report would be different, and include more material. It would be released later this month.
