Aged carers ‘hit, groped for less than Aldi pay’

Some carers are still ­receiving less than the modern award rate of $20-$25 an hour, the aged-care royal commission heard.

aged care home, generic, for moneysaverHQ

Aged-care workers are routinely hit, groped and abused, and all for wages often less than they could make at the Aldi checkout, the aged-care royal commission has heard.

Moving its focus to pay and working conditions in aged care on Wednesday, the commission heard disturbing testimony that assault and sexual assault of carers was commonplace, and pay rates were in many cases lower than for entry-level retail jobs.

Health Workers Union industrial officer Lisa Alcock said her members’ two biggest concerns were “the incredibly low rate of pay” and “the alarming rate of occupational violence” that they had no choice but to accept.

“Quite frankly I think we have a culture at the moment that accepts that in aged care … if you work in this industry, you should be prepared to be assaulted, and sexually assaulted, on a weekly basis,” Ms Alcock told the commission.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s Paul Gilbert agreed, saying he had been assaulted in his nursing duties while helping an older person tie their shoelaces. “It (can be) a consequence of being rushed. People are rushing to comply with their timelines, and that’s creating a situation where someone who already has issues around their mental competence is getting frustrated and angry,” Mr Gilbert said.

 

On pay, counsel assisting the commission Paul Bolster asked witnesses whether the aged-care modern award, which provides minimum rates for full-time aged-care workers ranging from $20 to $25 an hour, was the “bottom line in terms of pay in Australia”. “I’m certainly aware we have some workplaces that are on ­enterprise agreements that have passed their expiry dates that have rates that are lower than that,” Mr Gilbert said.

“For personal-care staff, the comment I hear is ‘I could get paid more working on the checkout of Aldi’ and it’s technically true,” Mr Gilbert said. “They see those jobs advertised with an hourly rate of $24, $25 and $26. Our enrolled nurses are paid more than the ­personal-care cohort, but not by a whole lot.”

Ms Alcock agreed. “You can’t expect a high quality of care from workers on $21 an hour,” she told the commission. “One woman (said) she had to get someone out to clean her gutters and that person was paid $150 for an hour of work to clean her gutters and she was only paid $21 an hour to clean a person,” she said. “And everything that goes with that, to provide dignity and care and support to that person. That’s not fair.”

Ms Alcock said many home-care workers remained on outdated “zombie” enterprise agree­ments with “very few terms and conditions and very low rates of pay”. “They’re really invisible workers,” she said. “There are women right now sitting in their cars waiting to go into someone’s home and not being paid for that time. They are not paid for kilometres travelled. They’re not paid to travel between homes. That’s not their time and they’re not paid for any of that work.”

Darren Mathewson of industry body Aged and Community Services Australia said aged-care workers had been undervalued because the sector had “historically been viewed as an extension of care work previously delivered informally”. Mr Mathewson said the not-for-profit, church and charity providers he represented agreed ­remuneration was inadequate, but they faced financial constraints.