Nurses resist work changes to picket nursing home
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday June 25, 2009
NURSES will picket a Central Coast nursing home today to protest at proposed changes to their working conditions, which they say will strip them of their titles and cut their shift penalties and allowances.Staff at the Peninsula Village at Umina have been told they must vote today on a new collective agreement, a week before federal legislation making some agreements illegal takes effect.The changes mean nurses will be reclassified as care service employees and will only receive pay rises if they can prove their skill levels have changed.The agreement also eliminates laundry allowances, reduces on-call allowances and slashes the loading for performing higher duties to 10 per cent. Nurses have been offered an extra $1.15 an hour in compensation.Yesterday the acting general secretary of the NSW Nurses Association, Judith Kiejda, labelled it "outrageous and un-Australian"."This is everything we have always fought against. It makes a mockery of aged care when you have people who need 24-hour nursing care."Staff have one day to lodge their vote and the agreement will be passed if more than 50 per cent of votes support it."So cleaners and cooks will be deciding nurses' futures. This is terrible," Ms Kiejda said.The home's manager, Terri Parker, denied yesterday that any staff would be worse off or that the agreement, which would run for four years, was being rushed through to beat the June 30 deadline. "We are doing this so we can quickly improve conditions for our staff. No other reason," she said.A statement provided by Ms Parker said the agreement would provide employees with "significant benefits over and above the awards negotiated by the [union]"."This agreement is about us taking control of our future and not having individuals who are seeking to increase their membership determine this for us," it said.The Minister for the Central Coast, John Della Bosca, said it was important workplace agreements were fair and minimum conditions were met.The "post-Work Choices legislation comes into effect on July 1 and people can make their own observations about the timing of this ... offer," he said.Peninsula Village came under fire last year after two staff members were sacked for sexually assaulting patients. It was issued with a notice of non-compliance for failing to report an alleged assault, employing nine staff without proper police checks and giving misleading information.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
