The Australian Services Union will seek pay rises of up to 35 per cent for 300,000 community and disability workers in a “historic” work value claim that would have to be funded by federal and state governments if successful.
Ahead of the claim being filed in the Fair Work Commission on Wednesday, ASU national secretary Emeline Gaske said the 35 per cent pay rise, which would be likely phased in over years if awarded, was warranted because the largely feminised workforce was underpaid and undervalued.
The 135,000-member ASU estimates the average annual wage of full-time workers impacted would be about $80,000, although lower for the many part-time and casual workers employed in the community and disability sector.
“Community and disability workers have been undervalued and underpaid for too long”, Ms Gaske said. “Filing this claim is the ASU saying clearly and loudly that we intend to fix that.
“We’re going to kick off a campaign to make sure the government funds this because it’s time the government put its money where its mouth is.
“We look forward to working with the government in this campaign. A major pay rise for these workers is the final step to address gender undervaluation in the community sector and gender inequity across the country.”
The union has not put a headline figure on the cost of the claim, which would impact different workers under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award including those employed in the community legal sector, financial counsellors and workers supporting children experiencing homelessness.
The bid to achieve real wages growth for workers covered by the SCHADS award follows last week’s gender undervaluation decision by the commission, which the union said had closed a homecare loophole exploited by “bad faith” employers.
Under the loophole, some workers providing support in the homes of people with disabilities were being paid less than those doing the same outside of homes.
Ms Gaske said one in 10 “dodgy” NDIS providers had been able to pay workers up to $16,000 less because of where they worked. Under the decision, the impacted disability support workers could be paid an extra 27 per cent from October 1.
She said the closure of this loophole would end a “rort exploited by bad faith employers, who paid workers less than the amount they claimed in government NDIS funding, and then pocketed the difference”.
However, she said the decision protected but did not fix the wages of the community and disability workers who had spent more than a decade absorbing growing complexity, higher regulatory demands and greater community need. “The work value claim will demonstrate that since the last major pay review in 2012, the complexity of work for community and disability workers has grown substantially.
“These workers, across an underpaid, feminised workforce, now apply person-centred, trauma-informed care, harm reduction methods and culturally competent practice as standard.
“Regulatory requirements have vastly increased and the communities being served are larger and their needs are more acute but their pay has failed to reflect these growing demands.”
According to Jobs and Skills Australia, the sector will grow by 23 per cent by 2035. However, union surveys found 29 per cent of community workers reported borrowing money from family or friends to meet basic living costs, and 13 per cent said they skipped meals due to a shortage of money.
“We surveyed our members and what they told us was stark. More than half say they cannot get ahead financially,” Ms Gaske said. “One in three won’t have enough to retire on.
“All this leads to turnover in the sector being too high. These are skilled, experienced professionals doing vital work, and they cannot afford to live on what they are paid. As the sector continues to grow and demand for workers is surging, we can’t afford to lose workers because pay is failing to keep up with the cost of living.
“Something has to give, and that something is pay.”