industry & reform
‘ Still a way to go ’
Industry peak chief pushes for pay rise for all aged care staff .
By Elise Hartevelt
One of Australia ’ s major aged care peaks has said expanding the 15 per cent pay rise to all staff is a crucial part of repairing the industry .
The Fair Work Commission ( FWC )’ s ruling in November last year excluded indirect workers such as kitchen staff and lifestyle workers .
Aged care workers received another blowout after the government decided to phase out the pay rise over two periods – the first 10 per cent in July 2023 and the remaining 5 per cent in July next year . Chief of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association ( ACCPA ) Tom Symondson said it ’ s crucial to recognise that everyone working in aged care is valuable .
“ If you are working in an aged care facility , you are almost certainly coming into contact with residents every single day ,” he said .
“ Yet somehow the FWC decided they ’ re not worth that additional money that nurses and personal carers are getting – and that feels very wrong .”
Symondson joined Aged Care Insite to speak about the ‘ artificial ’ distinction between direct and indirect workers and how it ’ s impacting people working in aged care .
ACI : What was your response to the Fair Work Commission ’ s decision ? TS : We absolutely welcome a pay rise for direct care workers across aged care and this is something that we know we need desperately . We need people to stay in aged care . We need to be able to attract people into aged care . We need to make that workforce sustainable . And we ’ ve got huge workforce gaps and we ’ ve got an exhausted workforce who probably on the whole don ’ t feel respected by society because they ’ re not paid at the same level as people who work in , for example , disability services . So I think that decision to award 15 % was really important . But the downside is it was only to direct care staff and we need to see that expanded to all staff in aged care and also that there has not yet been a final decision on whether 15 % is , as far as that increase goes . The unions have put forward that it be 25 % and that the Fair Work Commission still has to make a decision on that . So there ’ s still a way to go .
What do you think about the government wanting to spread out the pay rise over two periods ? We were disappointed about that . That ’ s the government ’ s position that they have said that they believe this should be paid in two components , 10 % on 1 July this year and the second 5 % on 1 July 2024 . We joined with all of the aged care unions as well as the consumer organisations and a number of other providers and faith-based peaks back in mid-December to say that we believed that it should be paid in one go as soon as possible . The government then said , “ No , that ’ s not what we intend .” Unfortunately , because of the financial situation that the sector find itself in , we have to go with that decision . We don ’ t want to , but we haven ’ t got a choice . Implementing a 10 or a five or a 15 % increase with no funding , even if it ’ s only for a year , would be enough to put large numbers of our providers either under or right up to the wall and it ’ s just , that ’ s not going to work . So it ’ s disappointing that the government ’ s chosen to do that , but that is what the government ’ s chosen to do .
There are concerns the government will account for increased tax and superannuation costs . What do you think ? We ’ ve said that the funding the government pays has to include what we call on-costs . So superannuation , increased work cover insurance in the different states , payroll tax for those providers , the third of providers that pay it , because these are all costs of providing aged care and the government is our largest funder . So they have to respect those things . Also , things that most people probably don ’ t think about , like if you ’ ve got long service leave accrued because you ’ ve been in a job for 10 years , if you take that long service leave now with the 15 % pay rise , it ’ s going to cost us more to pay you than we had saved up in the bank . So things like that have to be funded . And government has accepted that it must fund on-costs . We don ’ t yet know exactly how much they will fund and what they fund , but we will have to take them at their word at this point that they will fund those costs , because they ’ re not nothing . They ’ re significant amounts of money .
Do you think it will be enough to keep and attract workers ? It ’ s important that we increase wages , so 15 % is a good start .
But I would say we still have a fundamental problem that if you work in disability services , the award rates are higher , even with the 15 %. So we as a society have essentially decided that working in disability services is worth more than working in aged care . That ’ s not right . I don ’ t think that ’ s fair . I don ’ t think that ’ s reasonable . So we ’ ve got to do more to have at least that basic equality with other similar types of service .
But then when you look at public hospitals , and we ’ ve got to increase the number of registered nurses in aged care by something like 40 % between now and October so we can meet the 40 minutes of registered nursing care per resident per day in residential care . And we ’ re competing with public hospitals , who pay huge amounts more to registered nurses than aged care providers can pay . So we ’ re not competing on a level playing field , and so 15 %, it ’ s good , but it doesn ’ t fix that problem . And I know that ’ s why the unions have pushed for 25 %. We would be very happy to see our staff paid that much more , as long as government is willing and ready to fund it , because without that , we just cannot afford to pay it . But we want to see our staff valued . We want to show our staff that what they do really matters and we want them to be able to survive on what we pay .
There ’ s also still discussion awarding the pay rise only to direct workers , not indirect workers . What are your thoughts ? We use this kind of artificial term of direct versus indirect care staff . If you ’ re working in an aged care facility , you are almost certainly coming into contact with residents every single day . There ’ d be very few people who work in aged care who are truly nothing to do with the residents . That ’ d be a very small group of people . So the idea that you might be a cleaner or
16 agedcareinsite . com . au