Union threatens to withhold funding,resources from Labor over aged care wage stance

The national president of the Health Services Union (HSU) has warned he will withhold hundreds of thousands of dollars in election funding and the campaigning resources of tens of thousands of members unless he is satisfied by the strength of Labor’s stance on aged care wages.

Gerard Hayes,who presides over 47,000 members as secretary of the dominant NSW,Queensland and ACT branch,said he might even campaign against the federal opposition heading into the May election if he was not convinced of the party’s preparedness to fund the sector.

HSU national president Gerard Hayes says he will withhold campaign resources against Labor if he isn’t satisfied with its stance on aged-care wages.

HSU national president Gerard Hayes says he will withhold campaign resources against Labor if he isn’t satisfied with its stance on aged-care wages.Louise Kennerley

“We will be intending to make a significant contribution to the ALP campaign,but we won’t be doing that until such time as members can understand the support we’d be getting from an ALP government,” Mr Hayes said.

“My reputation’s out there,I’m not a fair-weather friend ... we’re not wedded to just blindly following people,we will call it for what it is. This is a decent,moral,humane issue that will need to be addressed.”

The aged care sector is in crisis,with hundreds of residents dying during the COVID-19 pandemic,staff leaving the sector in droves and the government forced to send in Defence to help.TheSydney Morning Herald andThe Age have seen correspondence this month from one facility that had 100 shift vacancies to fill in a fortnight.

One of the country’s largest aged care bodies,UnitingCare Australia,recently estimated raising wages across the sector would cost the federal government $4 billion a year.

The HSU has lodged a case with the Fair Work Commission to increase the wages of aged care workers by 25 per cent,equal to $5 an hour.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declined to endorse a pay rise in the wage case,saying the matter was up to the workplace umpire.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has promised to make a submission to Fair Work supporting a pay rise if it wins government but has not committed to a specific amount.

“It’s not up to us to determine what the wage rise is – it’s up to the Fair Work Commission – but we would make a positive submission and I’ve said that on a number of occasions,” Mr Albanese said in Perth this month.

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Mr Hayes said Mr Albanese’s statements were “all nice fluffy stuff” but “it doesn’t commit to anything”.

“I need something to take to my membership to say that,if elected,Labor will support the outcome of the work value case and be able to fund it,” he said.

Labor’s aged care spokeswoman,Clare O’Neil,said workers were “clearly underpaid” and maintained her party’s commitment to lodge a submission in the wage case “to support the argument that aged care workers need to be paid more”.

“Any determinations about funding will rely on the decision made by the independent umpire,Fair Work,and working with the aged care sector to deliver that decision will be a core responsibility for whoever is in government at the time,” Ms O’Neil said.

HSU national secretary Lloyd Williams,who was previously the secretary of Victorian sub-branch Health and Community Services Union,said while he saw positive language from Mr Albanese,he was yet to see a guarantee the sector would be funded.

“Gerard’s correct,we’re still waiting on the formal commitment,and we wait with anticipation,” Mr Williams said,adding the union wanted the opposition to go further than just submitting a statement endorsing the wage case in the Fair Work Commission.

“In terms of what we’ll do if we don’t get that policy statement,I’d rather leave that to see what happens,” Mr Williams said.

Mr Hayes said the union’s contribution to Labor’s election campaign “would be resourcing on the ground,as well as a financial contribution,which would be in the vicinity of half a million[dollars].”

“But we need to understand very clearly,what is the likelihood of our members having their working lives enhanced,what is the likelihood of attracting and retaining people in the aged care system?” he said.

“This will not come again,we will not have another royal commission ... if we miss the boat now,this boat is not coming back.”

Mr Hayes was an influential figure in theexit of Jodi McKay and the instalment of Chris Minns as NSW Labor leader after the HSU cut its ties with the state opposition.

The union previously commissioned modelling that showed the cost of reform was between $2 billion and $20 billion over four years,and included improvements to the sector other than wages. It included only the rise of personal carer wages in that modelling.

Catholic Health Australia,who oversees other providers,has called on the government to overhaul visa restrictions so the sector canlook abroad to help stave off closure of homes.

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Angus Thompson is a federal workplace,education and migration reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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