Hearings for the ANMF’s landmark aged care nurses’ and personal care workers’ wages case in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) are scheduled to start in early August.
ANMF and the Health Services Union have lodged applications for a 25 per cent increase to the award rates for aged care workers.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to fund the outcome of the case. The new federal government will also make a submission supporting a pay rise for aged care workers.
The FWC’s Full Bench will consider the unions’ applications to vary the Aged Care Award 2010, the Nurses Award 2010 and the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010.
If the case is successful, aged care workers could see their minimum wage lifted by at least $5 per hour, or more than $200 per week for a full-time employee (based on award rates as at 1 July 2021). For a personal care worker or assistant in nursing, this could translate to an annual increase of more than $10,000. An RN level 1 pp8 should see their annual salary raised by at least $15,000. The full effect of this depends on how much members are being paid under current enterprise agreements, which varies from employer to employer.
On 12 May 2022, the Fair Work Commission issued the amended dates for the wage variation case.
Aged care wage case timeline
3 June 2022 – the Fair Work Commission will send the parties a draft report of the witness evidence (which concluded on 12 May) for comment
7 June 2022 – the Fair Work Commission will send the parties an issues document, a summary of the parties’ major arguments, a background paper on the history of the relevant awards, and a background paper on the residential and home care sector
8 July 2022 – deadline for the parties’ written submissions regarding the evidence
25 July 2022 – deadlines for the parties to file submissions in reply regarding the evidence
2 and 3 August 2022 – oral hearings
