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Empowering low-paid workers
The federal Labor government is trying to pass new laws that will help low-paid workers to negotiate higher wage increases.
As The Lamp went to press, Labor’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation had passed the lower house of parliament but was held up in the Senate. Big business was threatening to run a multi-million-dollar influence campaign aimed at blocking the bill or watering it down. Business opposition ignores the fact that while corporate profits are at record highs, workers have endured years of wage stagnation and, in many industries, real wages cuts. A Guardian newspaper poll of 1035 voters in November found majority support for key aspects of the bill. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) supports the bill because it is designed to benefit employees in low-paid, female-dominated sectors such as aged care. Other sectors likely to benefit would include childcare, disability care and cleaning. ANMF Federal Secretary, Annie Butler, said the existing wage bargaining system is outdated and unfair. “Many of our members have been ‘locked out’ under the existing bargaining system and haven’t had a proper wage rise in years,” she said. Annie said aged care staff working
in years.’ — Annie Butler, Secretary, ANMF
conditions had “deteriorated to the point where more and more workers have abandoned their profession, leaving nursing homes dangerously understaffed.” Meanwhile, inflation is racing ahead of wage rises. The consumer price index rose 1.8 per cent in the three months to September to an annual rate of 7.7 per cent. That means real wages fell over the year to September by an average of 4.2 per cent and even higher for public sector workers, the ACTU said. “Rather than spending millions of dollars on a scare campaign, big business should use that money to give their workers a pay rise instead,” ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus, said.
MULTI-EMPLOYER BARGAINING
The current enterprise bargaining system requires employees to reach agreement with their employers. Labor’s new legislation makes it possible for workers in low-paid sectors to negotiate one pay deal across multiple employers.
FLEXIBLE WORK
New flexible work rules will benefit many women workers in particular. Employers will be legally required to try to reach agreement with “eligible” employees who request flexible work hours or arrangements. Eligible employees are carers, parents with children of school age or younger, people with a disability, those aged 55 or older, and those experiencing or caring for someone experiencing domestic violence. If the employer doesn’t bargain in good faith, unions can ask the Fair Work Commission to intervene.
JOB SECURITY
The new laws will improve job security by placing new limits on rolling fixed-term contracts.
— Glen O’Driscoll
This will mean “workers can’t be effectively put on an endless probation period,” said the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Tony Burke.
EMPOWERING WOMEN WORKERS
Industrial relations expert Professor Shae McCrystal of the University of Sydney said the new laws are designed to empower women in the workplace. “There’s a real engagement in the things that hold women back,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald, referring to measures to increase the bargaining power of sectors dominated by women. n
STOP PRESS
As The Lamp goes to print the Albanese Government’s IR laws have been passed in the Senate.
Aged care set to gain from reforms
Registered nurse and NSWNMA member Glen O’Driscoll said he supports the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation because it aims to assist workers who are low paid and whose jobs lack pay progression. Glen works in aged care, where, he said, enterprise bargaining agreements have tended to deliver both low hourly pay rates and inadequate pay progression (pathways to higher pay levels). “Pay increases under enterprise agreements have not kept up with cost-of-living increases,” he pointed out. “Enterprise bargaining has not worked well for low-paid workers in generally femaledominated sectors such as aged care and childcare. “The work of low-paid workers is not fairly valued and real wages have been eroded. The working poor are getting poorer and more socially disadvantaged.” Along with measures to lift wages, the legislation also limits fixedterm contracts, to make it easier for casuals to gain permanency. “Casual employment and termlimited casual employment contracts do not provide fair work value and tenure is uncertain,” Glen said. “Casual workers doing a full-time workload are financially and socially disadvantaged when seeking housing loans from bank lenders, who see it as high-risk lending.” He said low pay motivates aged care workers – particularly casuals – to seek better pay rates by working for nursing agencies. “This creates further staff shortages within the enterprises they leave. The enterprise plugs the resulting gaps in the staff roster by hiring agency casuals. “It is common for an aged care worker to find themselves working side by side with a casual agency worker, doing the same work and being paid substantially less than the agency worker. “This is a ridiculous waste of taxpayer’s money.” Glen said the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation will “allow all aged care employees whether casual or full-time, to have their collective interests represented, advocated, and negotiated no matter which enterprise(s) they work for.” “Care workers whose enterprise is acquired by another provider operating under a separate enterprise agreement can use the multi-employer bargaining framework to trigger renegotiation of the value of their work. “This trigger is especially useful when the new owners re-designate lower-skilled workers to perform higher-value work encompassing a broader range of duties and skill sets. “It's time to give workers a voice in the valuation of their work,” he added. “We need to support these workplace reforms.” n
Labor delivers on aged care reform
The NSWNMA’s long battle for a better deal for aged care workers is starting to pay off.
After nine years of Coalition government neglect, and tireless union campaigning, Labor has delivered on its election commitments for aroundthe-clock nursing care and more time for care in homes. Meanwhile, the Fair Work Commission has approved a 15 per cent increase in award wages, with the prospect of more to come. “None of this would have been possible without nurses who provided evidence to the commission and those who campaigned for fair wages in the sector,” said NSWNMA General Secretary, Shaye Candish. “There is still more work ahead, but we are making real progress.”
15 PER CENT INTERIM PAY RISE AWARDED
Many aged care workers are in line for a substantial pay rise after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) ordered a 15 per cent interim increase to award rates. The increase applies to nurses and care workers who are paid minimum award rates under the Nurses Award; Aged Care Award; and Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award. The FWC said a 15 per cent interim increase for direct-care workers was “plainly justified by work
— Shaye Candish, NSWNMA General Secretary
value reasons”. Unions, including the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), had applied for a 25 per cent wage increase, arguing that the work of aged care workers had never been properly valued and was significantly undervalued. When The Lamp went to press, the FWC had not yet decided when the increase would be paid. It said it would consider possible further increases for these directcare workers, and whether to also grant a pay rise to aged care administrative and support staff. NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish said workers on minimum award rates will get the full 15 per cent increase. Members employed under enterprise agreements will also get an increase if the award rate of pay goes above their current enterprise agreement. “However, most nurses employed under an enterprise agreement are already paid more than 15 per cent above the award rate, so it is unlikely this interim increase will apply to them,” she said. “Nonetheless, we will be seeking increases to wage rates in all enterprise agreements when existing agreements expire.”
LABOR SUPPORTS FWC DECISION
The federal Labor government welcomed the FWC decision and reaffirmed its commitment to fund the pay rise in full. “A wage rise for aged care workers is not just the right thing to do, it is a smart thing to do,” Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells, told parliament. “For some aged care workers, after literally decades in the job that they love, they are about to crack the
AGED CARE WORKERS GO TO CANBERRA. FROM LEFT: SHARON HORN, STEPHANIE SULLIVAN (NSWNMA), RACHEL BACKHOUSE, GLEN O’DRISOLL (NSWNMA), MINISTER MARK BUTLER, ANNIE BUTLER (ANMF SECRETARY), JULIANE SAMARA (ANMF ACT), STUART SMITH (ANMF SA), ALISON WONG.
— Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells
$30-an-hour barrier for the very first time.” Treasury modelling accompanying the government’s submission to the FWC said a 25 per cent wage rise could boost labour supply by between 5 per cent and 10 per cent. Workplace Relations Minister, Tony Burke, said the result signified a first step in changing the undervalued nature of aged care work. “We fought for this pay rise because our government is committed to getting wages moving again, particularly in low-paid, femaledominated industries like this one,” Burke said. Women make up about 80 per cent of the aged care workforce. The commission said in its decision that “gender-based undervaluation of work in Australia arises from social norms and cultural assumptions that impact the assessment of work value”. It added: “The disproportionate engagement of women in unpaid labour contributes to the invisibility and the under-recognition of skills described as creative, nurturing, facilitating or caring skills in paid labour.” Aged & Community Care Providers Association’s CEO, Tom Symondson, welcomed the decision but noted it did not cover staff who are not involved in direct care such as kitchen, laundry, recreation activities and administrative workers. “We look forward to a further decision by the commission that addresses their pay,” he said. n
$2.5b for extra staffing
In October, federal parliament passed new aged care laws to increase the amount of direct-care that residents receive and to guarantee an RN onsite 24/7. Labor’s October budget included an additional $3.9 billion to pay for these and 21 other recommendations of the aged care royal commission. The new laws increase the number of care minutes residents receive – 200 minutes including 40 from RNs – from 1 October 2023 and 215 minutes – including 44 from RNs – from 1 October 2024. They also require aged care homes to have an RN onsite 24/7 from 1 July 2023. These two reforms alone will cost $2.5 billion over four years. ANMF Federal Secretary, Annie Butler, said the “significant investment” was “the first step to fixing the troubled aged care sector”. n
— Annie Butler
MPs salute members’ advocacy
Aged care workers, including NSWNMA members, are praised by government ministers and other MPs in federal parliament.
Adelegation led by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) – the national union body, which includes the NSWNMA – went to Parliament House in Canberra in October to lobby for the Aged Care Bill, which is now law. During debate on the bill, Labor, Greens and independent MPs praised the ANMF and individual nurses for their hard work to achieve reform. Aged Care Minister, Anika Wells, said that “seven proud ANMF nurses” and two United Workers Union aged care workers had met with parliamentarians “to tell us what it is like in aged care.” She added: “I know that people here would want me to acknowledge Glen, Stephanie, Sharon, Stuart, Alison, Rachel and Juliane, who came to tell us, and the frontline workers who are watching on, and really hoping that we act as swiftly as we have so far. “Thank you for all those shifts that you did in PPE. Thank you for all those times that you came in on your day off because there was no-one else to do it. “Thank you for all those times that you stopped and held a hand and checked in and cared, even though you had 67 other things that you needed to be doing.
— Independent Senator David Pocock
“We see you and we thank you and we recognise you, and today we made laws in this place that value your work.” Labor Senator Murray Watt, the agriculture minister, thanked ANMF officials and singled out NSWNMA member Glen O'Driscoll, whom he described as “an aged care nurse who I know has been very involved in the discussions around this bill.” Senator Watt continued: “Thank you for representing the many thousands of nurses who work in aged care and have needed, for a long time, a government that backed them and provided the support that they deserve so they can fully care for our older Australians, and thank you for your participation in this really important bill.” Greens Senator Janet Rice praised the ANMF for its “crucial advocacy and commitment” to aged care reform. She thanked Glen O’Driscoll and fellow NSWNMA member Stephanie Sullivan, who were part of the nurses’ delegation to parliament. Senator Rice said: “One of the things he (Glen) said to me yesterday stuck with me. He said the number one thing that was going to make a difference to the older people he cares for was having more eyes, more feet and more hearts on duty.” Independent Senator David Pocock also acknowledged the work of the ANMF and the nurses who came to Canberra to lobby MPs. “We’re now realising what a precious resource nurses are and how much catch-up work we need to do to value them,” Senator Pocock said. n
House of tears
Susan Walton is among a dedicated band of workers who fronted the union push for aged care reform.
Aged care worker Susan Walton will never forget the day she made Barnaby Joyce cry. Susan is an NSWNMA member and assistant in nursing at an NSW aged care facility. She met Joyce, the National Party leader, as a member of a union delegation to parliament house, Canberra, to lobby for aged care reform in 2021. “I went to Joyce’s office with another aged care worker from Queensland,” Susan said. “Joyce started by saying his father didn’t have to worry about a nursing home because he was being cared for at home by Joyce’s sisters, who are nurses, and his brother, a doctor. “I said, that’s fantastic, but I invite you to come to my facility for a couple of hours and see me trying to look after six people like your father. “And you can tell me which one you’d like me to go to first. “The one on the floor who’s fractured his hip, the one who’s demented and attacking a resident, the one who’s soiled himself while waiting to go to the toilet, the one in extreme pain who needs his medication, or the one who’s walked out the door and wandered off? “As I described the conditions at the nursing home he got upset and the tears started. “He offered to organise a meeting for us with all National Party MPs and kept his promise. I couldn’t attend the meeting but some of my colleagues went back to Canberra for it.” Susan has been lobbying for aged care reform for more than a decade and gave evidence to the aged care royal commission in 2019.
overnight.’ — Susan Walton, AiN
LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL
She has lobbied MPs in Canberra and at state Parliament House in Sydney, given TV interviews and campaigned for aged care reform during state and federal elections. In the process she’s made “wonderful friendships” with other union members. Susan describes the Labor government’s recent aged care reforms and Fair Work Commission wage increase as “light at the end of the tunnel”. “We are getting closer to achieving a better and fairer system, but it won’t come overnight,” she says. “The extra care minutes from October next year should mean more staff on the floor and more RN time with residents. “It will be up to unions and workers to make sure providers enforce the new rules. “At my facility we currently have one RN responsible for 120 people at night.” Susan says the 15 per cent award wage increase must be followed by increases to above-award enterprise agreements like the one covering her workplace, which pays $26.90 an hour. “The low money and constant understaffing are causing people to leave in droves. “It’s a hard job and you’ve got to be a caring person to do it. Not many are going to do it for $26.90 an hour. “They’ve got to bring back conditions as they were when I started 19 years ago – before Prime Minister John Howard changed the aged care laws to remove accountability from providers as to how they spend taxpayers’ money. “That’s when everything fell apart.” n
