24 February 2021
The Morrison Government’s proposed Omnibus Bill is a “huge insult” to nurses and aged care workers, an ANMF (SA Branch) member stated in response to this month’s Senate Inquiry into the proposed legislation.
If passed, the Bill will allow employers to make agreements that cut the wages and conditions of workers. It will also allow the Fair Work Commission to approve agreements that do not meet the better-off-overall test (BOOT) for a period of two years, the ACTU says.
The Bill passed the Lower House last night, with the ACTU saying Australian workers are now reliant on the Senate Crossbench to prevent this “damaging attack on their rights from becoming law”.
The ACTU is asking people to contact the Crossbench, urging them to vote down the Bill, via this link:
https://www.australianunions.org.au/campaign/email-your-mp-and-senator/
You can follow the ACTU campaign at:
https://cloud.actu.org.au/index.php/s/4E7gQKBZdTo94N7#pdfviewer
Three of our members were bravely ready to share their views with the Adelaide-based Senate Inquiry on how the proposed Bill would affect them, but sadly their statements were not heard. The Morrison Government did not give them the respect to have their story heard.
“We are the ones who work weekends doing what we always do, missing out on kids’ sports, and family functions,’’ Registered Nurse Karin said in her prepared statement.
“We are the ones who cheerily spend Christmas Day with our patients, making it as normal as possible for them, while missing out on our own Christmas. And Easter, and all the other public holidays that we work.
“And the recompense for this is our penalty rates. Penalty rates that we’ve fought hard to retain in our enterprise bargaining agreements that may well get taken away from us should this legislation go through.
“The penalty rates and other fought-for entitlements that we need to help us pay our bills, and our mortgages. This will have an impact on my income and that of all my colleagues. This will mean a drop in our standard of living and spending power.
“To allow the possibility of removing the protection of EBA standards is a slap in the face for myself and all the other nurses in the country who, without question or delay, sacrificed so much for our community.
“I urge you to support the workers that kept this country safe by not supporting this Bill.’’
Enrolled Nurse Ann wanted to tell the Inquiry that nurses and care workers in the aged care sector, like herself, are already working “under incredibly difficult conditions for low pay’’.
“People don’t realise how hard it is in aged care. It’s back-breaking and emotionally, physically and mentally draining work,’’ she said. “Frequently we have new people who leave after their first week, citing it’s too much. The proposed legislation doesn’t make things better for us and our residents. It makes it so much worse. And to be honest, I don’t think I can handle any more cuts.
“I work in a facility that cares for 100 residents. In my unit we have 46 residents with two ENs and four Personal Care Workers (on night duty there is half the staff). There is one RN who has oversight of the whole facility. We are always pushed to our absolute limits and frequently starting early and finishing late (unpaid!) to ensure that everything that needs to get done is done. We are dedicated to our residents. Our shifts are also cut to the bone.
“I frequently leave work feeling stressed. Over-worked and understaffed. I lie in bed at night wondering what has been missed due to a lack of time and resources.
“We do everything. And that was before COVID. Now we live in constant fear of COVID coming into our facility and having a similar situation like those interstate. My colleagues were told they couldn’t work a second job even though they needed it to survive financially. It was so hard.
“We got called ‘heroes’ during the pandemic, which is quite ironic as we’re not the heroes when it comes to our pay. Does the Government think we are only important when something deadly is going through society?
“To cut our penalties or put our entitlements at risk would have a devastating effect not only on our workers but the economy as a whole, as there will be less money that we will be able to spend.
“Not only that, but it will affect the residents and families we care for.’’
Another Registered Nurse said she had been involved in negotiations for three enterprise bargaining agreements.
“Having the union at the table on our side has been invaluable. There is such a power imbalance when discussing the EBA and many (workers) have a legitimate fear of retribution such as shifts being cut following raising concerns about the workplace,’’ she said.
“So, to have someone on our side throughout is so important.
“I understand that the proposed legislation could result in delaying employees seeking assistance from their union – this could have devastating effects on there being meaningful representation during negotiations, which may have a flow-on effect in our hard-earnt entitlements being scrapped.
“I am currently involved in ongoing discussions for my current agreement that expired in June 2018. Since this agreement expired, we have been left in limbo with an agreement that is not moving forward and if it wasn’t for the union assisting, my employer wouldn’t be engaging in the process at all. We’re hoping for commitment to yearly increase of wages and to implement some of the changes that have been made to the nurse’s award, such as domestic violence leave, since our agreement began in 2015.
“This process has been stressful for the nursing staff with months at a time between correspondence. The hope in our situation would be that when put to the Fair Work Commission they would protect us using the BOOT tool and ensure us fair working conditions.
“This will be made worse by the fact that I understand the BOOT tool will be made meaningless as the Fair Work Commission could approve an agreement even if it doesn’t meet the BOOT which is really concerning.
“My personal fear is that if the BOOT tool is not used and changes that don’t benefit the employee are made, when the agreements come up for bargaining again in three years’ (or longer!) time, trying to get those changes reimplemented would be a struggle, if not near impossible.
“Since COVID there have been many changes in aged care with nurses adapting and stepping up to perform greater duties. Whilst some Australians got to work from the comfort of their homes not facing the real risk of this infectious disease, nurses face the risk of taking this disease home to their families, yet continue to show up and provide high-quality care for very little compensation.
‘During this time, I have had to ensure the welfare of residents, their families, my family and myself at the same time whilst living through this pandemic.
“This Bill, if introduced, is a huge insult to all of us who went, and are still going, to extraordinary efforts in response to COVID. It’s already so hard for us, please don’t make it harder.’’
Listen to all three statements by members addressing the Omnibus IR Bill: