United Voice

Hi Kerri here again with my update from Fair Work Australia.  After the introduction and first witnesses yesterday, the hearing first heard from Michael di Brenni, assistant secretary for the Queensland branch of LHMU.

The provider’s barristers spent about an hour questioning Michael as well as South Australian Secretary David Di Troia. The main thing they tried to say was that low wages were the fault of the union members not being able  to get a better deal. Anyone who is involved in the union, now this simply isn’t true. 

The union have been fighting for our rights in aged care. This is about the members getting better pay and conditions. The whole purpose of the case is about trying to work toward professional wages for the aged care sector. 

 They also spent a lot of time trying to get Michael to define the difference between an assistant in nursing and a Personal Carer. It seemed to me that they were trying to show that carers were in some way less professional than an AIN. Certainly in my day to day work in the sector I do things such as wound management, monitoring blood pressure and help patients monitor their weight. These tasks have traditionally have been in RNs, but more and more the responsibility falls to us. 

 It would be interesting to see some of these providers and their representatives swap the board room for the aged care facility and see if they still think we’re not professional!!! 

For a lot of people, it’s not until you see first hand the care we do, (such as if your parent is in aged care facility) that it really brings home the level of professionalism all carers show in their work. 

Next up in the stand was Chris Lonergan. Chris did a research piece for the case to show what the broader community thought what ‘low paid’ was to them. Chris showed that the results of his research were not influenced by the union and was a true reflection of what the broader community thought of what we get paid. For example, the survey found just 11% of Australians can lead a reasonably lifestyle on an income of $30,00  a year, a figure many of us in the aged care sector need to get by on. 

To finish up for the day, they very briefly spoke to an aged care member from SA, Marra Pearn. They only spent a few minutes talking to her. I think this is because the longer they speak to low paid aged care workers, the more obvious it is that we are in fact low paid and deserve the right to bargain.  

The whole topic of salary sacrificing came up again. They seemed to make out this was a bonus we should be happy to be receiving. This makes me very angry. We shouldn’t have to rely on a government tax break to make ends meat. 

The court then adjourned for the day. The next day will focus on the brave members who submitted statements to the hearing.  We will also hear from some academics. Keep watching the website for my next update.