Paul Gilbert, the Assistant Victorian Secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, has come out and said 600 enterprise agreements in Victoria are “under a cloud”, affecting 40,000 care workers. The Labor government Workplace Agreement plan would have delivered top up pay increases to care workers provided operators kicked the bucket first – and signed enterprise agreements in conjunction with unions.
Those operators are now starting to back out of existing agreements, which apparently have escape clauses. In fact one operator with 3,600 workers has cut its pay offer by 2.75% and another with 800 workers has withdrawn a 3.5% increase proposal. In the Abbott government has stopped processing new applications for the workplace agreements. The ghost Minister for Ageing, Assistant Minister for Social Services Mitch Fifield said on Thursday applications are suspended while they consult with the sector on other options. Current applications will continue to be processed.