Aged care pay worry

AGED-CARE workers on the Fraser Coast have been served notice that they must prepare to bargain for new wage deals.

Torbay Retirement Village CEO Philip Parry with aged-care worker Merrieanne Newman. Picture: Alistair Brightman

AGED-CARE workers on the Fraser Coast have been served notice that they must prepare to bargain for new wage deals in a high stakes game involving the government, health care providers and unions.

The Australian Workers' Union and United Voice union have won a low pay ruling from the full bench of Fair Work Australia.

This obliged aged-care providers to now advise all employees paid under award conditions that they must nominate bargaining agents to thrash out new wage deals.

The local bargaining will be part of a wider web of negotiations in four states involving about 240 residential care facilities and thousands of employees.

Health care providers who pay workers under existing awards accept pay rates are low.

Torbay Retirement Villages CEO Phillip Parry said he believed a wage increase was warranted, but affordability was a key issue.

“The Federal Government has also indicated that it supports the case that aged-care workers are underpaid but it has not given an undertaking that if FWA awards a pay rise that the government is going to fund it,” Mr Parry said.

“A pay rise in the order of what is necessary to bring aged-care workers in line with nurses in Queensland Health would be devastating.

“We would be immediately trading insolvent and as none of our directors, who are all voluntary, wish to go to jail we should shut our doors immediately.”

Managing director of law firm Miles Witt Partnership Scott Lucas is acting for Torbay and 11 other residential facilities.

He said the pending negotiations were a landmark case under legislation passed last year.

“We have a real worry about the logistics of the process as potentially every employee can designate a different bargaining agent,” Mr Lucas said.

Originally published as Aged care pay worry