Aged care workers win further wage rises of up to 13.5pc
Tom Burton
Aged care workers will get a further pay rise of up to 13.5 per cent after the Fair Work Commission found their work has been undervalued.
The finding follows an interim judgment that gave more than 250,000 “direct care” workers a 15 per cent pay rise in July last year.
“There are ‘work value reasons’ ... for the minimum award rates of pay for such employees to be increased substantially beyond the 15 per cent interim increase,” the Commission said.
It also found there had been historic gender bias against female aged care workers.
“The Expert Panel finds that the work of aged care sector employees has historically been undervalued because of assumptions based on gender.”
However, rather than awarding an across-the-board increase for direct aged care workers, the Commission has awarded a series of further increases on top of the 15 per cent awarded last year.
These range from 13.5 per cent for personal care workers with level five certification to 3.2 per cent for level two certified workers.
Health Services Union chief Gerard Hayes said this would result in average pay rates rising from $23.10 to $32.52 per hour.
