Drop the politics
The residential aged care wage parity case is currently being heard by Fair Work Australia but a decision is a long way off.
The much anticipated Fair Work Australia (FWA) residential aged care ruling is now expected to take even longer with the full bench due to finalise submissions in March next year.
That means that a decision determining whether or not responding employer groups will be forced to enter into negotiations with the unions could be a year away.
Assistant national secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), Sue Lines, expressed her disappointment at the delay.
“Aged care workers are hurting now and they need an increase in pay now,” said Ms Lines. “By the time we get another decision it could be 12 months. away.
“So drop the politics and start having genuine discussions with us now about workforce issues.
“I’m not suggesting that it is will be easy but the longer we delay talking about the issues then the higher the turnover of staff will be… and that is not good for quality aged care.”
The combined application from the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU) and the Australian Workers’ Union Queensland (AWUEQ) was heard by a full FWA bench last week.
The claim aims to increase the wages of low paid facility staff by $10 (from $16 to $26) an hour. Should FWA rule that the employers are compelled to enter into enterprise bargaining negotiations with the unions, then it will be left up to the parties themselves to agree to an outcome.
If they fail to reach an agreement then FWA can be called on again to arbitrate and it can summons the federal government to join the discussions as a third party.
But Ms Lines said that employers need not wait for a decision from FWA. She said that they can act now by entering negotiations with the unions.
“My view that the unions and the employers are of themselves are powerful enough to put the pressure on the government.
“Minister Butler has even admitted that the workforce issue is just one of the issues that gives him nightmares at night. So he wants action.
“If the employers are dinkum about saying workforce is an issue for them then talk to us now. They don’t have anything to lose. They can walk away from the discussions.”
The hearing was the first to use the new low paid bargaining powers of the Fair Work Act and residential aged care union members are the first low-paid employee group to have ever have sought a wage increase through FWA.
