Opal Healthcare workers have voted in favour of a new enterprise agreement that will see nurses and care workers receive a 10.7 per cent pay rise over three years.
Acceptance of the offer means Australia’s largest for-profit aged care provider has avoided the threat of industrial action by the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association.
Members of NSWNMA voted overwhelmingly last week in favour of overtime bans and work stoppages in a demand for an 18 per cent pay increase over three years.
In May, staff voted down Opal’s original pay offer of 8.25 per cent over three years – the first time the provider’s nurses and carers had successfully voted down an enterprise agreement.
The latest 10.7 per cent offer – backdated to 1 July 2023 – received the thumbs up by a majority of Opal workers (71 per cent). As well as a wage hike, the deal includes an extra three days of sick leave and a further fortnight of parental leave.
In a split with the NSWNMA, the Health Services Union endorsed the wage deal. “HSU members noted that while some of our claims were not fully met, the new wage offer – including back pay to 1 July 2023 – and the significantly improved conditions represented a much better deal than the last proposal, and was acceptable to members,” HSU national president Gerard Hayes said in a statement.
Meanwhile, industrial action continues at Bolton Clarke, with stop-work rallies planned at various sites each Friday throughout September. Nurses and personal care workers are in an ongoing dispute with the aged care and retirement living provider over pay and conditions.
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