United Voice News
Kerri's aged care case update
Kerri's final update from Fair Work Australia
A couple of brave aged care workers were cross examined. This must have been very scary for them but they should be congratulated for standing up on the issue of low pay in aged care.
Ingrid, from Western Australia, was in Sydney for the case and she was cross examined this morning. This took less than five minutes, the only focus of the questions was on salary sacrifice.
The same thing happened with 3 other LHMU members who were interviewed via video link from Perth. This made me really angry; the only focus was on the salary sacrifice. They seemed to imply that because we got salary sacrifice we couldn’t be considered low paid.
David Kelly, the secretary for WA was next up. I think the representatives of the providers tried to make it difficult for him, but he knew enough about the sector and the challenges his members face to be able to accurately speak on the topic. One provider even tried to make out that his employees were paid ‘vastly’ more than the award. David pointed out that there are few agreements in WA that could be considered to be ‘vastly’ above award.
A big thank you to blue care for re-arranging my shifts so I could attend the case. I found it a great experience and my thanks to everyone at LHMU who made this possible. I need to return to my real job but watch out for the next update from the case.
However, this isn’t the last you will hear of me. I hope to return and report on any new developments in the case in the new year.
