by Keith Locke
It is great news that the Government has agreed to enter into negotiations with disability support workers and their unions, the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) and the Public Service Association (PSA), about sleepover payments, but any settlement must recognise the workers right to be paid at least the minimum wage for each hour worked.
The government should stop dragging this case out and pay the workers what three courts have now said they are entitled to – the minimum wage for each hour of their sleepover shifts. The law is clear and leading constitutional academic Andrew Geddis said the government would be wasting their time appealing the case to the Supreme Court. Despite having no legal leg to stand on the IHC has lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court, but it is unclear if that court will even bother to hear the case.
And all the while disability support workers wait for what is legally theirs – minimum wage payments. Phil Dickson, whose name the case is in, gets paid $3.77 an hour for the 9 sleep over shifts he does a fortnight. The current minimum wage is $12.75. So Phil is missing out on around $650 a fortnight in wages. That is a huge amount for someone on a low income and would make a real difference in his life.
There is no good reason to make him and other support workers wait any longer. We call on the government and their negotiators to reach a speedy settlement that delivers long overdue justice to these workers.
Published in Economy, Work, & Welfare by Keith Locke on Wed, March 30th, 2011
Tags: Minimum wage, PSA, SFWU, Sleepovers
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on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Given that the costs of backpay are estimated north of $300m, and that it is (as I understand it) a debt against IHC, and IHC is worth a lot less than that, I’m puzzled as to why IHC hasn’t called in the receivers. That would be by far and away the cleanest (though I agree a very unfair) way out of this mess.
In the bigger picture, IHC are funded almost exclusively by the government, which is doublespeak for funded by you and me. We (yes, you and me) will soon be paying people McDonalds wages to sleep.
I’m not sure how I feel about that.
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But, whatever the cost, surely that should not be a justification to circumvent the law.
The workers in this industry are some of the most low paid anywhere. And the “paid to sleep” scenario is a myth.
They get to sleep if there are no issues in the workplace. Most often there are. Workers will seldom get a good night’ sleep. They will often be up for several hours dealing with the issues of residents who don’t sleep.
But, regardless of how much sleep they get, they are always working on “sleepovers” because they are obliged by their employment agreements to perform employment tasks if and when required.
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