‘Village in the Park’ is a retirement and aged care complex in Newtown Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. It is operated by Arvida group which operates 35 such complexes across Aotearoa New Zealand. The company’s 2024 annual report shows an increase in revenue of 11% and a whopping 69% increase in net profit to 139 million dollars in the past year. Furthermore, Arvida has posted a profit every year since at least 2018 (as far back as I could find annual reports for the company). So it might come as a surprise that Arvida intends to slash 400 employment hours a week from care workers, nurses, and activity coordinators at the Newtown complex – what can only be seen as a ‘cost-saving’ attack on both workers and on those who live in the complex.
Staff were apparently given only a week to respond to a proposal to these employment cuts (later extended to 10 days), and were told not to disclose the cuts to anyone including residents. Despite the employer’s wishes to secretly reduce employment, unions and residents alike got wind of this plan and have responded appropriately and militantly. I interviewed “Louise” – not her real name – a resident of Village in the Park, about the response to Arvida’s planned cuts.
Q: What are the proposed cuts to staff?
Louise:
I am a resident in an independent apartment in Village at the Park, and generally very happy with my apartment and the facilities here.
But like many of the other apartment and villa residents I’m very concerned about the older people who are in hospital and dementia care at the Village, and who may be unable to speak for themselves.
Our meeting and protest have been attended by relatives of some of those patients, who are worried about what would happen to the level and quality of care for their loved ones if Arvida’s proposed cuts are implemented.
Q: What will be the material effect for residents if staff are cut?
Louise:
This is exactly what’s worrying us, both on behalf of the people already in care, and for ourselves if/when we become older and frail in the future. There are 109 beds in the care wings, I believe.
At our meeting last week with well over 100 residents like me – plus a few relatives of the people in care, Arvida management said there would be no reduction in the quality of care following the proposed cuts!
We just can’t see how this can be possible, given that the care staff are already busy and at times over-stretched for example if another staff member is off sick. This is what relatives and friends say, who visit their people in the hospital and dementia care wings and see what’s going on.
So we’re talking about care staff who work in intimate care with showering, dressing, feeding, and toileting patients who can’t do these things for themselves. Also nurses who deal with medications, dressing infections or wounds, assessing patients’ needs and the like.
Plus the activities coordinators work with people in care – organising activities, outings, entertainment and so on as appropriate to each individual.
All of the care done by the staff under threat is not only about physical care – very important of course – but also about the emotional and psycho-social and spiritual well-being of vulnerable people.
We just don’t want to see quality of care compromised. Plus there’s the continuity of care – this really matters, where each staff member works over time with the same patients, getting to really know them and their issues and needs. This is what’s life-enhancing for the patients.
Q: How are residents fighting back?
Louise:
First of all, there’s been a dearth of information, or else there’s really been inadequate information. Relatives of people in care received weirdly unhelpful emails, as did independent apartment/villa residents like me. By chance I met a friend whose mother is in the care part of the Village. He said to me “What the hell is going on?”
I myself only knew about the proposed cuts because the unions sent information flyers to some residents and they forwarded them to others. A big thank you to E Tū and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation!
Arvida management apologised for the poor communications when this was raised at the big meeting we had on Wednesday 17th July, this was the one with well over 100 people attending. The information provided in that meeting was pretty appalling really. Tristan Saunders from Arvida’s senior management team said that over the initial Covid period, staffing levels had increased and that the proposed changes would reduce staffing to pre-Covid levels. As if Covid is actually over – which is not the case. Someone along my corridor died recently from Covid.
The staff affected were given one measly week to respond to the proposals which would see them having to reapply for jobs. The deadline has been extended by some days.
Management confirmed that these staff are on individual contracts. We’d like to see a collective contract in place.
We are shocked at the injustice and unfairness of the way care staff are being treated in this process. They are among the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. Many of them are migrants, some are on work permits tied to their jobs. They provide life-giving care to vulnerable residents. And these staff are a vulnerable group too.
So we got organised: there was a meeting of about 30-plus residents to express our indignation on Tuesday 16th, and then the big meeting with management on Wednesday 17th. Then, and I’m really proud of our Village for this, we joined the Union picket on Thursday 18th, again with, someone said, 150 people including friends and supporters from the Newtown community. Some of us weren’t able to stand on a picket line for two hours and went off early, but it was a great turnout with some of the off-duty staff there. The unions had some chairs and biscuits for people who needed rest and refreshment, and passing traffic – buses and cars – were tooting like crazy. It was a great protest and I’m pretty sure some of my fellow residents hadn’t been on a street protest before.
We’re having another planning meeting over the weekend.
It was great that you attended our street protest. Certainly if we’re having more public protests, we’d very much welcome others in the community to come and support us.
Arvida’s slick website boasts of their Newtown complex: “You can live independently in an architecturally-designed villa or apartment, or you can choose a higher level of support including rest home, hospital and dementia care in our care centre.” It is hard to imagine how the ‘higher level of support’ provided in the ‘care centre’ might be maintained if the staff who provided that support and care are no longer present. Employers inevitably aim to increase their profits by increasing the workload expected of each employee. In this case, the employer aims to reduce staff and expects those staff remaining to shoulder the burden to maintain earlier production levels. It is inspiring that staff, unions, and residents are uniting against Arvida. We stand against attacks on workers and against attacks on aged care.
References
Scoop (July 18, 2024). 150 People Picket Against Cuts To Care At Ardiva’s Village At The Park Aged Care Facility. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2407/S00120/150-people-picket-against-cuts-to-care-at-ardivas-village-at-the-park-aged-care-facility.htm
Arvida (2024). Annual report. Retrieved 20 July 2024 from https://api.nzx.com/public/announcement/433849/attachment/421983/433849-421983.pdf
