AGED care workers at Bolton Clarke homes in Rosebud went on strike last week. Bolton Clarke is a privately-run aged care provider with homes across the country. On its website it claims to be “Australia’s largest independent not-for-profit aged care provider”.
Bolton Clarke workers began industrial action on Monday, 15 July. Workers are seeking a pay increase of at least four percent a year – the Victorian branch of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation says that Bolton Clarke should “provide an increase to all salary and allowances in the EBA to ensure parity with the Victorian public health sector from 30 June” and “provide a further per annum increase to base rates of pay, by provision of a four percent increase or the minimum wage case outcome, whichever is higher, on 30 June each year of the agreement including 2024.”
The first stage of the strike included a ban on collecting or recording data excluding any report directly related to safety, and redeployment refusals. Messages have been written in chalk on cars and workers are wearing t-shirts to support their cause.
In a statement, the ANMF said that 98 percent of its Bolton Clarke-employed members supported the strike. “The threat of action has been enough to force Bolton Clarke to issue a bargaining update, inclusive of a meagre two percent wages offer, up from zero percent. Not two percent per year of the agreement, but two percent over the life of the agreement,” the ANMF said. “ANMF and members recognise and reject this for the woefully inadequate offer that it is. It is also significantly less than what all other employers in aged care are offering.
“This insulting offer comes on top of Bolton Clarke having not passed on the full 15 percent stage two aged care work value uplift – unlike every other private and not for profit aged care provider – because they refused to increase shift, on-call, and other allowances in line with the work value uplift.”
Bolton Clarke Group CEO Stephen Muggleton said “our focus remains on the health, wellbeing and safety of our clients and residents” while workers are striking.
“Bolton Clarke has been working closely with employees and bargaining parties for six months to deliver a contemporary state-based enterprise agreement for teams in Victoria. Significant progress has been made to secure standard terms that deliver a unified classification structure, wage rates and conditions for Victorian employees and consultation is ongoing,” he said.
“We will always do what is right by our employees. We were one of the first aged care employers to sign up for and support the Aged Care Fair Work Value Case and have passed on in full all government funding received under the Fair Work Commission direction to employee wages and entitlements. “In addition to the work value case increases, we have funded a wages uplift of up to 14 percent over the past two years for direct care workers. Together, these actions have brought a combined uplift of up to 29 percent over that period.
“We will continue to engage with employees, the ANMF and bargaining parties and are committed to delivering the best possible wages outcome and package of benefits within available funds for our teams.”
Earlier this year, public sector nurses were awarded a 28.4 per cent pay rise over the next four years.
First published in the Mornington News – 23 July, 2024
