Month: June 2020

Workers’ voices needed in future changes to PPE management

Posted on June 17, 2020 by - Community Support

A union for care and support health workers says it is essential that workers’ voices are included in any changes to PPE provision during major health events in future.

On Wednesday, the Auditor General released an overview looking at the management of PPE in New Zealand during COVID-19.

E tū represents 15,000 workers in the health sector, including more than 10,000 in care and support roles such as home support, disability support and residential aged care.

E tū Director Kirsty McCully says workers knew early on there was a major systems failure in access to PPE.

“The experience of E tū members and other frontline healthcare workers varied massively, as outlined in an E tū survey of workers in April and this caused unnecessary stress and concern. Some workers waited weeks for access to PPE.”

Kirsty says workers shouldn’t have had to speak out so strongly in order for the Ministry to revise their initial advice on PPE usage.

“The current contracting system and multiple, layered split of services and tendering processes across DHBs was a major barrier to workers and clients accessing PPE. On top of this, the profit motive, particularly in the residential aged care sector, didn’t help.

“PPE for health care workers needed a much greater level of coordination and better central distribution by the Ministry of Health. However, as the Auditor General comments, the ‘size, scale, and speed of the pandemic required the Ministry to play a strong and decisive leadership role in a largely devolved sector’,” Kirsty says.

“Recommendation three of the report – reviewing how PPE clinical guidelines will be prepared or amended and consistently communicated during emergencies – is absolutely critical to us.

“Workers’ voices needed to have been included from the start in this and we will make sure that any changes following this report are co-designed by workers themselves.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Kirsty McCully, 027 204 6354

Living Wage promise: Government running out of time

Posted on June 15, 2020 by - Living Wage, Public and Commercial Services

The Government are running out of time to honour their 2017 promise to pay the Living Wage to core government workers employed by contractors.

All three Government parties made the commitment in the 2017 election campaign to “support and promote changing government procurement policies to ensure that all contracted workers, who are delivering a regular and ongoing service to the core public service, move to the Living Wage within the next term of government”.

Today, on International Day of Justice for Cleaners and Security Guards, E tū members are urging the Government to recognise their value by sticking to that Living Wage commitment.

E tū member and Otahuhu Police Station cleaner, Rose Kavapalu, was recognised by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during the COVID-19 lockdown for the hard work that she does.

Now, Rose and her family have had to move in with relatives because they simply cannot afford Auckland rents.

“I am left with no choice but to move in with my family and live with my parents as I couldn’t afford the $400 rent anymore,” Rose says.

“Even though I work two jobs, 65 hours a week on the minimum wage. By the end of the week, my body is sore and so tired I am left with no energy to enjoy life with my family.”

Rose says receiving the Living Wage could change her family’s situation overnight.           

“I will be able to work one job, able to afford the rent, and most of all enjoy spending quality time with my family.”

E tū Assistant National Secretary Annie Newman says COVID-19 has led to public recognition of essential workers and the crucial work they do.

“The crisis and response has highlighted what cleaners and security guards have always known – that their work is essential, difficult, and risky, while their low pay is barely enough to make ends meet,” Annie says.

“As we rebuild our economy, we must no longer accept that low wages are OK for anyone, especially essential workers. The Government has a responsibility to play a leadership role here.

“They have done the right thing by paying the Living Wage to directly employed workers in the core public service. Now’s the time to honour the promise to their cleaners and security guards – they are the stars who are shining bright through COVID-19.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Annie Newman, 027 204 6340

Air New Zealand proposes further wage cuts of $150 million

Posted on June 5, 2020 by - Aviation

Air New Zealand staff are dismayed and angered at the company’s announcement to cut a further $150 million from their wage bill.

On Friday, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Greg Foran, made the announcement to employees, who are still reeling from the redundancies which have already taken place.

E tū Head of Aviation Savage says with initial labour cost reductions of around $370 million, cuts of a further $150 million will only increase the pain for the airline’s workers.

“Thousands of workers have only got several weeks of work left before being made redundant.

“The company is heavily focused on saving money and is in danger of being blinded to the importance of treating both employees and customers with respect,” Savage says.

Savage says the real danger now is that the company may look to use the threat of outsourcing work to downgrade the remaining jobs.

“We will meet with union members as soon as possible to find out in detail how they want to respond. They have lost trust in senior management because of the way they were treated in the first round.

“The company is facing a big challenge, but now is not the time to repeat their past mistakes. To rebuild better, we need to keep these vital workers in jobs.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Savage, 027 590 0074  
Rachel Mackintosh, 027 543 7943

‘Brutal’ proposed job cuts at Carter Holt Harvey

Posted on June 5, 2020 by - Engineering, Infrastructure, and Extractions

Workers are devastated at a restructure proposal which could see more than two-thirds of their team made redundant at Carter Holt Harvey’s remaining Northland timber plant.

In May, the company proposed to cut 68% of its production roles from 241 down to just 77 at their Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) plant at Marsden Point, as part of a plan to abandon export sales and focus on domestic supply only.

Despite LVL receiving around $2.2 million in wage subsidies in the first week of April, workers were forced to use, on average, two weeks of their annual leave during the Level 4 lockdown.

Some workers, who had little or no leave, now face a zero or negative leave balance and redundancy. The company also confirmed it has not ruled out complete closure of the plant.

E tū Industry Councillor Glen Chaplin visited Carter Holt Harvey workers last week and says they are completely demoralised by the proposed redundancy.

“Workers are really devastated and deflated. They don’t know what to do next and don’t necessarily see a path forward for getting other work,” Glen says.

“It’s decision which would potentially leave two-thirds of their workforce out of jobs in an area that’s already economically depressed.”

E tū organiser Annie Tothill says the timing of the proposed cuts is “brutal”.

“The harvesting of workers’ leave means some workers will have nothing left of their leave balance to help support a period of redundancy.

“It is in everyone’s best interest that the wage subsidy is used as intended – for the workers – and we urge Carter Holt Harvey to use the 12-week subsidy to cover the cost of reinstating all that leave to all their workers now.”

Annie says with a number of employers in manufacturing and infrastructure issuing restructure notices with potential redundancies, the Government needs to step in quickly for communities to have justice and to prevent a self-fulfilling cycle of job loss and economic downturn.

It also needs to create an accountable pathway for the timber manufacturing industry to thrive again, including exports, Annie says.

“To rebuild better, we need to keep and increase the number of decent jobs in New Zealand. The jobs at Carter Holt Harvey are good, sustainable manufacturing jobs that provide for hundreds of workers and their families, indeed the whole community.”

The company will announce their decision on 8 June.

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Annie Tothill 027 573 4934

Union calls for investigation into security guards injured in hospital attack

Posted on June 4, 2020 by - Public and Commercial Services

E tū is calling for a serious harm investigation into the case of two security guards who were injured when a staff member was attacked at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital.

On 21 May, two security guards were stabbed with a pair of scissors when they intervened in the attack on a health care assistant.

One of the guards was stabbed in the hand, while the other received stab wounds to the back of the neck.

E tū delegate Gareth Liley is one of the guards who was stabbed and says it’s not the first time workers have been injured on the job.

“We have been warning the DHB of the risk of something like this happening. We want to go home safely to our families, just like everyone else does.

“What we need is the right support, personal protective equipment, staffing levels, and training, to ensure we can keep ourselves and our colleagues safe at work,” Gareth says.

E tū Director Sam Jones says the union has demanded an improvement in working conditions at Counties Manukau District Health Board and that WorkSafe be notified to conduct a serious harm investigation into the incident, with worker representation.

“It appears that despite the stabbings, because no one was in hospital overnight, they don’t see it as serious enough. It’s just unacceptable,” Sam says.

“Violence in the workplace cannot be treated by our health system like business as usual for our essential service workers.”

Bringing in standardised training, pay rates and hours, appropriate PPE, staffing levels and personal support at all DHBs would go a long way to helping the situation, Sam says.

These were all recommendations included in a March 2020 report on New Zealand’s hospital security services by the National Bipartite Action Group. It found that during a 12-month period, there were more than 5000 security incidents, including 230 reported assaults, logged across 13 of 20 DHBs.

Respondents also agreed the number and frequency of acts of aggression in hospitals was on the rise.

Sam says the review was an important piece of work and a good example of health unions and the DHBs working collaboratively to find solutions to an increasingly serious problem across our hospitals.

“We see the recommendations and their integration into the workplace as a crucial step in keeping our frontline health workers and patients safe.”

ENDS

For more information and comment:
Sam Jones 027 544 8563