Registered nurse and NSWNMA member Glen O’Driscoll said he supports the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation because it aims to assist workers who are low paid and whose jobs lack pay progression.

Glen works in aged care, where, he said, enterprise bargaining agreements have tended to deliver both low hourly pay rates and inadequate pay progression (pathways to higher pay levels).

“Pay increases under enterprise agreements have not kept up with cost-of-living increases,” he pointed out.

“Enterprise bargaining has not worked well for low-paid workers in generally female-dominated sectors such as aged care and childcare.

“The work of low-paid workers is not fairly valued and real wages have been eroded. The working poor are getting poorer and more socially disadvantaged.”

Along with measures to lift wages, the legislation also limits fixed-term contracts, to make it easier for casuals to gain permanency.

“Casual employment and term-limited casual employment contracts do not provide fair work value and tenure is uncertain,” Glen said.

“Casual workers doing a full-time workload are financially and socially disadvantaged when seeking housing loans from bank lenders, who see it as high-risk lending.”

He said low pay motivates aged care workers – particularly casuals – to seek better pay rates by working for nursing agencies.

“This creates further staff shortages within the enterprises they leave. The enterprise plugs the resulting gaps in the staff roster by hiring agency casuals.

“It is common for an aged care worker to find themselves working side by side with a casual agency worker, doing the same work and being paid substantially less than the agency worker.

“This is a ridiculous waste of taxpayer’s money.”

Glen said the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation will “allow all aged care employees whether casual or full-time, to have their collective interests represented, advocated, and negotiated no matter which enterprise(s) they work for.”

“Care workers whose enterprise is acquired by another provider operating under a separate enterprise agreement can use the multi-employer bargaining framework to trigger renegotiation of the value of their work.

“This trigger is especially useful when the new owners re-designate lower-skilled workers to perform higher-value work encompassing a broader range of duties and skill sets.

“It’s time to give workers a voice in the valuation of their work,” he added. “We need to support these workplace reforms.”