Taranaki’s council and DHB bosses earn over $300,000
The Taranaki Daily News has reported over the last couple of days on horrendous top-end salaries of Regional Council and District Health Board (DHB) CEOs. Taranaki District Health Board chief executive Tony Foulkes earns more than $350,000 while Regional Council CEO Basil Chamberlain earns $310,000 per year.
Health Board chairman John Young is quoted in relation to the horrendous salaries that “we need to have good quality staff and remuneration is something that has to be taken into account.” This is the core belief of this rotten economic system called capitalism and there is no difference if it is managers of multinational corporations, financial institutions or the local council. The idea that the person who manages a District Health Board gets paid more than 10 times the wage of the person who cleans his toilet, flips his burgers or delivers his mail is simply revolting!
The DHB paid 103 staff more than $100,000. 15 of those were managers with four earning over $300,000 while the remaining 88 are clinicians.
Service and Food Workers Union spokesperson Alistair Duncan is questioning the number of staff on more than $100,000. “If the administration don’t turn up to work, the organisation functions without them. If the nurses don’t turn up to treat the patients or the cleaners don’t turn up to clean, you’ve got a serious health and safety issue.” He said that many kitchen and cleaning staff at the Taranaki Base Hospital earn little more than $14 an hour and were fighting for a 3% pay increase.
We need to understand this exploitative system where the few on top live in luxury while the rest of us struggle to get by. Understanding, challenging and - to be quite frank - overthrowing it.
- Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement
