Blue Care aged care centres in Gympie to strike on May 10
One of Gympie’s major aged care centres is reportedly involved in a national strike in the lead-up to the federal election, with workers saying they are “fed up” with poor working conditions and pay.
Gympie
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Employees at a Gympie aged care centre will walk off the job next week as part of a national protest against poor working conditions and pay affecting quality of care.
An estimated 5000 aged care workers across Queensland from Churches of Christ and Blue Care aged care facilities are expected to strike on Tuesday, May 10, two weeks out from the federal election on May 21.
A UnitingCare spokesperson said employees at one of Gympie’s Blue Care centres, Gympie Grevillea Gardens on Ramsay Rd, Southside, will be involved in the strike.
An estimated 6800 aged care workers across South Australia and Western Australia are also expected to take part in the strike.
Participating aged care workers are expected to walk out at 11.3oam on Tuesday, May 10, ahead of CBD strike rallies in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth at about 1pm that day.
A press release from the United Workers Union said residents of affected centres would be cared for during the strike.
The protest follows the 2018 Royal Commission into aged care quality and safety, which said the industry’s workforce was understaffed, undervalued and under resourced, all of which impacted the quality of care residents were getting.
UWU Aged Care Director Carolyn Smith said in a press release workers were promised change following the Royal Commission but were yet to see anything done and instead conditions had worsened.
Ms Smith said thousands of reports since the commission described aged care residents being left “unshowered, soiled and injured due to a lack of care”.
It comes after Gympie nursing home Cooinda Aged Care faced claims of neglect in October 2021, after an anonymous source came forward with allegations that residents were suffering from ongoing staffing problems caused by the pandemic and the resignation of staff who refused to be vaccinated.
Additionally, Ms Smith said aged care staff were forced to take action thanks to a lack of compassion from employers and the Morrison government during the pandemic.
“Aged care workers have been forced to take unprecedented strike action because of pay and conditions that are failing workers and failing residents,” she said.
“Aged care workers were promised they would be looked after with vaccinations, boosters, RATs and PPE. They weren’t – in fact they were at the back of the queue.”
She said workers were left to “fend for themselves” during the Omicron wave, which has claimed the lives of more than 1150 aged care residents across Australia in 2022.
“Monumental failure by Scott Morrison and his incompetent cricket-prioritising Aged Care Services Minister means aged care workers are being forced to hold their employers accountable,” she said.
Mr Morrison has previously given aged care workers one of two one-off “incentive payments” of $400 to keep employees in the industry.
The first payment was in February, the second is expected in May.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese then announced a $2.5 billion pledge in March 2022 to increase pay for the aged care sector.
But this will only come to fruition if Mr Albanese is elected the next Prime Minister of Australia at the May 21 election.
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