Aged-care workers pressured by unions

Employer groups, aged care providers and nurses have blasted Anthony Albanese’s union-linked labour agreements designed to bring in foreign aged care workers.

Anthony Albanese with Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Employer groups, aged-care providers and nurses have blasted ­Anthony Albanese’s union-linked labour deals designed to bring in foreign aged-care workers amid concern care staff are being unfairly pressured into joining industrial organisations.

The criticism comes as Immigration Minister Andrew Giles revealed just five labour agreements had been struck between unions and aged-care providers since the policy was first introduced three months ago.

The nation’s peak nursing body branded the policy – which requires providers to enter into a memorandum of understanding with unions in order to tap into the pool of workers – as “fundamentally flawed”, arguing it takes Australia “back 100 years”.

The Albanese government’s Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement was first announced in May in a bid to fast-track foreign workers into the aged-care sector to alleviate crippling labour shortages and help providers meet Labor reforms including mandated care minutes.

But the labour agreements’ requirement for providers to sign an agreement with the union has sparked backlash from employer groups, nurses and providers who are warning of union overreach.

Under the agreement, unions have special access to workers including through inductions that exclude management. The agreement also forces providers to ensure workers have time off to attend union meetings and that local staff are offered 76 hours a fortnight of work before using overseas workers.

The government has made clear that sponsored workers will have access to support from the unions amid concern about increased vulnerability of temporary migrants, but says the support is optional and not linked to union membership.

But providers are reluctant to sign up to the agreement, with one who spoke on the condition of anonymity describing it as a “poisoned chalice” amid concern the policy gives over all industry rights to the unions.

Australian College of Nursing chief executive Kylie Ward said workers should not be forced into joining an industrial organisation against their will as she questioned whether unions had “vested ­interests”.

“It is fundamentally flawed; Australia is a democratic country and nobody should be forced into signing up to a union if they don’t want to,” Ms Ward said. “This should be a choice and the system, the Fair Work Commission, salaries and wages should all be in place irrespective of what union people belong to. This feels like we are going back 100 years.”

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said Labor had turned the nation’s ­migration program “into a recruitment tool for unions”.

“The prospect of being required to sign the MOU has caused severe anxiety in an already stretched and stressed sector facing significant government funding shortfalls,” he said.

Aged Care Industry Association chief executive Peter Hoppo branded the requirement for signing up to an MOU with unions as “puzzling”.

“I know this step has raised concerns among providers, and I hope it doesn’t hinder our efforts to recruit the overseas personnel we desperately need for sustainable aged care,” Mr Hoppo said.

“So far, I haven’t seen many providers adopting this new ­agreement in their recruitment ­strategies.”

Mr Giles said Labor was working with businesses and unions to address workforce shortages while protecting temporary migrant workers from exploitation.

He said the government had “inherited a system with backlog, delays and waitlists” with the former Coalition government having had “almost a decade to address workforce shortages”.

“In just three months, we’ve signed off on five labour agreements for businesses that need workers,” he told The Australian.

The opposition immigration spokesman, Dan Tehan, said businesses should be free to hire staff without “union interference”.

“Forcing aged-care providers that are already struggling to meet Labor’s unrealistic nursing mandates to now engage with unions to meet their workforce shortages will not help the aged-care sector,” Mr Tehan said.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar said the agree­ments were a “backward step to mandate requirements designed to promote the interests of unions beyond what has been negotiated through enterprise bargaining”.