Australia’s aged care workers have won a 15% pay rise, with the possibility of more to come, after the Fair Work Commission accepted the sector’s employees were underpaid.
The full bench of the FWC announced its interim decision on Friday afternoon, having accepted the expert evidence that “feminised industries” including care work “has been historically undervalued and the reason for that undervaluation is likely to be gender-based”.
As this is an interim decision, there is no timing yet for when the wage rise will flow through to some of Australia’s lowest-paid workers. The government had supported submissions for an increase to workers’ pay.
Unions had wanted a 25% increase, which would have amounted to an additional $5 an hour, following recommendations from the aged care royal commission, which found low pay was contributing to staff shortages.
Gerard Hayes, the national president of the Health Services Union, which had wanted 25%, said the interim decision “was a downpayment”.
“But nobody should be mistaken. This will not fix the crisis. We still have massive unfinished business in aged care,” he said.
“For the last decade this industry has relied on the goodwill of an exploited, casualised workforce. Today represents progress but the legal, political and industrial fight continues.”
The aged care director of the United Workers Union, Carolyn Smith, said the interim decision recognised aged care workers “have been underpaid for performing work that has not been properly valued for decades, if ever”.
“The Fair Work Commission’s order of pay rises of 15% for direct care workers in aged care – including nurses, AINs, personal care workers and home care workers – is a historic moment, and starts addressing systemic underpayments that have caused a crisis in the sector,” she said.
Smith said it was essential the increase was implemented as soon as possible, adding the union saw it as “vitally important” the federal government’s commitment to fund the pay rise was upfront, rather than phased in over a number of years.
But Smith said the exclusion of lifestyle workers or other aged care support workers from the interim decision would leave those employees “gutted”.
“Anyone with knowledge of aged care knows lifestyle, laundry and catering are essential to delivering the quality care residents need,” she said.
“It is a bitter pill for these workers that decisions on their pay rise have been put off for further consideration.”
In its ruling, the full bench “made it clear that the interim increase does not conclude its consideration of the unions’ claim for a 25% increase for other employees”, including administrative and support aged care employees.
And there is hope the rate could be increased, with the decision also making clear “nor was the full bench suggesting that the 15% interim increase necessarily exhausts the extent of the increase justified”.
“Whether any further increase is justified will be the subject of submissions in Stage 3 of these proceedings,” the decision said.
The workplace minister, Tony Burke, said it was a step in the right direction.
“Aged care work is hard work – but it’s undervalued work,” he said.
“This result is the first step in changing that. We fought for this pay rise because our government is committed to getting wages moving again – particularly in low-paid, female-dominated industries like this one.”
Unions have just won a 15% pay rise for Australia’s aged care workers.
— Sally McManus (@sallymcmanus) November 4, 2022
Well done @HSUNational @UnitedWorkersOz @anmf_federal
Employers in the sector had not stood against calls for a pay rise but wanted the government to fund it.
The joint employers and the commonwealth had both asked for further time to make submissions regarding the timing and implementation of the increase, which the FWC full bench granted. Hearings for that will be held later in November.
Labor had backed an increase to the minimum wage for aged care workers and had committed to funding the increase in its submission to the FWC, submitting that an increase would help to narrow the gender pay gap “by increasing the relative earnings of a female-dominated sector”.
The decision puts pressure to raise wages in other parts of the care sector, including disability support and childcare, which are both suffering from the same issues as the aged care sector.
