Aged care bodies have reached an agreement with unions on worker pay, releasing a consensus statement supporting an increase ahead of the Fair Work Commission’s decision later this year.
While the statement – signed by unions including Health Services Union and United Workers Union, as well as industry bodies such as ACSA and LASA – does not endorse a specific figure despite unions’ initial push for a 25% rise in wages, it does note that “the work of aged care workers has been historically undervalued for a range of reasons”, and calls for a “significant” increase in pay.
“Minimum wages in awards need to be set according to the value of the work done by workers in aged care, recognising increases in the complexity of the nature of the work and skills and responsibility involved in doing the work and changes to the conditions under which work is done,” the statement reads.
Signatories to the statement also note that sector wages need to be competitive if skilled workers are to be attracted and retained.
“Minimum award wages of nurses are significantly lower than in the acute health sector, making aged care a less attractive choice for nurses. Minimum award wages of PCWs are significantly lower than for disability support workers.
“Providers of both aged care and disability support would benefit from alignment of wage levels to support the mobility and the aggregate supply of staff in both sectors. Similar challenges are faced in the attraction and retention of support staff, who are an integral part of aged care functional teams,” they say.
The Fair Work Commission will make its decision on aged care worker pay in July.
