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NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet
(right). Photo: AAP/ Joel Carrett
‘Deliberate hoodwink’
Unions blast government pay
freeze for essential workers.
The NSW government is pushing
ahead with plans to put a freeze on
all public sector pay, including for
nurses and other frontline workers.
The freeze would scrap the planned
2.5 per cent wage increase and the state’s
treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, said this
would amount to $3 billion in savings
for the state, with the money going to
increased public spending and more jobs.
However, the move faced a hostile
crossbench, with Labor and the Greens
signifying an intent to block the passing of
any such bill.
Perrottet, perhaps sensing defeat,
announced that he would offer the
workers a one-off stimulus payment of
$1000 if the bill is let through the upper
house and previously promised that there
would be no forced redundancies.
The new plan was put to union leaders,
the Sydney Morning Herald reported, with
this new outlay expected to cost the state
$200 million.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said
in a statement the one-off payment was
tantamount to shortchanging workers.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’
Association described the one-off
payment as “insulting” and an attempt to
silence nurses and midwives.
“The government is deliberately
attempting to hoodwink our members and
is threatening job cuts if the upper house
successfully blocks the government’s
wage freeze regulation,” general secretary
Brett Holmes said in a statement.
“This is how nurses and midwives are
treated for keeping our communities safe
and saving lives throughout the COVID-19
pandemic? [The government is] essentially
saying: ‘Sorry about your wage freeze,
here’s a fraction of what you’re owed
to keep quiet.’
“A one-off payment is not an act
of generosity from the treasurer. The
government is deliberately attempting to
hoodwink our members and is threatening
job cuts if the upper house successfully
blocks the [wage freeze].”
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said public
sector jobs would otherwise be at risk and
frontline workers had received 2.5 per cent
annual pay rises since the Coalition took
office in Macquarie Street in 2011.
The Health Services Union NSW was
also critical of the payment and called for
an overhaul of the award system and the
wages policy.
“Hospital cleaners, ward clerks,
hospital admin, allied health workers
and paramedics deserve a system that
recognises their contribution and their
skills,” HSU NSW secretary Gerard Hayes
said in a statement.
He added that the union was seeking
an urgent meeting with the treasurer to
discuss these issues. ■
Registration scheme
Aged care minister releases
consultation paper.
The minister for aged care, Richard
Colbeck, is seeking feedback on
a proposed registration scheme
for aged care workers. Colbeck said the
public consultation paper brought the
sector a step closer to ensuring all staff are
suitable to work with senior and vulnerable
Australians.
Such a register was recommended by
the Royal Commission into Aged Care
Quality and Safety and the Aged Care
Workforce Strategy Taskforce’s 2018 report.
“What we’re looking for is a registration
scheme that screens all aged care workers,
without putting a red tape burden on them
or service providers,” Colbeck said.
“We also want to make sure that
workers are still able to move between
sectors, employers, regions and states as
circumstances change.”
Aged care advocates, providers and
workers have for years advocated for
registration for direct care staff like
personal care workers to bring them in line
with other workers in the sector like nurses
and some allied health professionals.
The government’s consultation paper
details the objectives of an aged worker
screening or regulation scheme, key issues
that the scheme could address and existing
regulatory models in related sectors.
Feedback can be provided via an online
survey until June 29.
Colbeck’s office said a scheme
may be introduced in stages, with full
implementation possible in 2022. ■
agedcareinsite.com.au
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