Key detail missing in pay rise promise for 300,000 workers

More than 300,000 workers are a big step closer to a major pay rise, but there is one crucial detail missing from the promise.

The federal government has promised to pick up the bill for a potential pay rise for aged care workers, but it won’t say how much wages should rise by.

More than 300,000 residential and home-care workers could receive a pay bump after the unions representing the workers brought forward a case to the independent wages umpire.

They want to wages for aged care workers and nurses to rise by 25 per cent – a figure the government stopped short of backing.

“The commonwealth supports a minimum-wage increase for aged care workers,” it said in its submission to the Fair Work Commission.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells met with members of the workforce on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

“The commonwealth submits that the work value of aged care workers is significantly higher than the modern awards currently reflect.”

If the FWC were to rule in the unions’ favour, the Grattan Institute estimates it could cost the budget an extra $3bn a year.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells brushed off the estimate when asked on Tuesday, insisting it was all “hypothetical” until the wages umpire made its ruling.

“We’re preparing, I guess, for all eventualities,” she told reporters in Brisbane.

In its submission, the government argued “invisible skills” such as interpersonal skills had not been fully valued under previous deals.

The government has stopped short of putting a dollar figure on its submission to the wages umpire. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

“The commission should find … that the current award rates significantly undervalue the work performed by aged care workers, for reasons related to gender,” it stated.

Lifting the pay of aged care workers was a key recommendation of the royal commission into the sector.

Labor had promised if it won government it would support a submission to the FWC for a pay rise, arguing low pay provided little incentive for workers to stay or join the sector.

The government has committed to “provide funding to support any increases to award wages made by the commission … that will help deliver a higher standard of care for older Australians”.

If the case is successful, the minimum wage for workers could rise by at least $5 an hour.

Originally published as Key detail missing in pay rise promise for 300,000 workers