Frown force: Schoolchildren the secret weapon in dental workers’ better pay push

Children getting free dental check-ups will be drawn into an industrial campaign to get better pay for the state’s Smile Squad and used to deliver a brochure to parents critical of the Allan government.

The campaign will target schools in safe Labor seats. Workers delivering the free treatments to Victorian government schoolchildren said they have been left no choice but to effectively get their patients to “dob the government in” to mum and dad.

Smile Squad worker Jacqui Pistone is among the dental and oral health therapists, mostly women, seeking a pay rise from the Victorian government.

The take-home brochures, seen by The Age, are to be placed in the sealed treatment-plan envelopes that children take home to their parents after they are seen by the dental and oral health therapists, known as the Smile Squad. The flyers will include campaign slogans like “great service, terrible pay” and “nothing to smile about”.

The campaign by the public health workers comes after 12 months of being unable to squeeze what they say is an acceptable pay rise out of the cash-strapped government.

Labor has been forced to tackle several health headaches this year – including independent GPs furious about a payroll tax extension that was later dumped, hospitals warning of fewer kidney dialysis and cancer screening services unless their funding was topped up and junior nurses angry about hospitals cutting their work hours.

A portion of the Smile Squad flyers set to be given to parents as part of the industrial action.

The Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association says Victoria’s Smile Squad workforce is overwhelmingly female and paid less than others doing the same job interstate. Union secretary Craig McGregor said he was even aware of some women picking up shifts at Bunnings to make ends meet.

That’s despite the Smile Squad being qualified to perform fillings and extractions and provide stainless-steel crowns for baby teeth.

“They’re getting about $6 an hour above minimum wage,” McGregor said. “They’re taking very substandard pay for these kids. It’s appalling.”

Victoria’s net debt is expected to peak at $187.8 billion by the middle of 2028. But McGregor said there were only about 150 public sector oral health therapists in the state, representing a “pretty small” cost for the government overall if they were to receive pay parity with public-sector allied health professionals.

“Labor really take pride in going about spruiking the Smile Squad and how important it is for the kids. It’s a vote winner. Meanwhile, the workforce performing the labour is critically underpaid. It’s massively hypocritical.”

The workers, who are able to perform fillings and extractions, are paid just a few dollars above minimum wage, and some have to pick up shifts at Bunnings to make ends meet, according to their union.Credit: Justin McManus

Smile Squad worker Jacqui Pistone said while she could understand some would find the brochure action controversial, it was preferable to walking off the job, given more than a third of children experience decay in their baby teeth.

“This is not preventing them from access to care – it’s notifying the parents of the plight of the people providing the care in the first place,” Pistone said. “We are degree-qualified health professionals. We are licensed with [health regulator] AHPRA. We hold radiography licences. Without us, there is no Smile Squad. We are the Smile Squad.”

A Victorian government spokesperson said the government valued the “important work undertaken by public-sector oral health specialists” and expected the parties to keep negotiating in good faith.

“We’re confident we will reach a resolution soon,” they said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the 12-month stand-off was proof that Labor couldn’t be trusted to handle the state’s finances.

“With Victoria’s record debt growing by $80 million a day, it should be no surprise the Allan Labor government is refusing to give Smile Squad workers a fair pay rise,” Crozier said.

“Labor’s priorities are all wrong. Instead of pressing ahead with the $200 billion Suburban Rail Loop, the Allan Labor government should be investing to ensure children can access proper dental care.”

Unionised Smile Squad workers will vote on their proposed industrial actions, including handing over the take-home brochures, in coming days. Other actions will include overtime and public event bans, as well as work stoppages between five minutes and 24 hours.

The union has assured its members children under the age of 16 will not be asked to sign petitions.

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