Disgruntled workers to fight on

By JONATHON HOWE - Manawatu Standard

They marched in unison, chanting slogans of fairplay and solidarity, but dozens of workers protesting in Palmerston North face a tough time getting an elusive pay rise.

About 150 hospital workers, IHC caregivers, school support staff and court workers shouted slogans and waved banners as they marched from Queen St to The Square at yesterday afternoon.

The workers were part of a nationwide series of protests against the low pay conditions for people in service and support professions.

Palmerston North Hospital orderlies, food workers, cleaners and security staff went on strike for four hours yesterday to protest a zero increase pay offer made by Spotless Services.

IHC community support workers stopped work between 11.30am and 8.30pm yesterday after their employer Idea Services introduced a wage freeze.

Primary and secondary school staff, including teacher aides, librarians and office managers, decked themselves out in pink and black for the lunchtime rally.

Court staff attended to support the rally, despite returning to bargaining talks with the Justice Ministry this week.

Among the speakers at the rally – organised by the PSA, SWFU and NZEI unions – were Palmerston North MP Iain Lees-Galloway and Council of Trade Unions secretary Peter Conway.

Mr Galloway encouraged the raucous crowd to continue industrial action until pay conditions improved.

"As your wages are frozen you will have to pay more [for cost of living].

"Those are the kinds of things this Government is doing."

Mr Conway said it was unfair to expect low-paid workers to accept pay freezes in the face of rising living costs.

"All this year people who have special cases are not getting anything because the Government is trying to hold a line."

Palmerston North community support worker Dorothy Ralston is passionate about helping people with disabilities, but her patience is wearing thin with her employer Idea Services.

"The cost of this [low pay] is you lose good staff," Ms Ralston said.

"If we were paid more, they could hold on to the ones that are suited to the job."

Community support worker Rangi Millan said he was paid little more than the minimum wage for a job that required training, patience and a certain type of personality.

"I think it's totally unfair that some of the people we look after get paid more than us."

Somerset Crescent School support worker Katrina Plank said support workers throughout the country had negotiated with the Education Ministry for more than a year, but had little to show from talks.

"We will not go away...we will keep fighting for a fair deal."

EMPLOYERS KEEPING QUIET

Employers were non-committal about whether the mass rally would alter their stance on pay conditions.

Spotless Services spokesman Peter Jennings said the company hoped to make progress towards settlement when the parties met again in the coming weeks.

"Spotless recognises the right of employees to strike in support of settlement of a collective agreement," Mr Jennings said.

"Business continuity plans are in place to ensure any disruptions are minimal."

IHC chief executive Ralph Jones said IHC received a funding increase of only 1.2 per cent from Government this year. "This is insufficient to cover proposed increases to ACC levies, let alone the rise in other costs such as Kiwisaver, electricity and food We simply do not have the means to offer staff a wage increase," he said.

Mr Jones said the priority was to maintain jobs for IHC workers and to avoid the need to restructure and make people redundant.

A Ministry of Education spokeswoman said she could not comment as negotiations were ongoing.