WORKERS FORCE CALVARY AGED CARE TO STOP THEIR STALLING

Stalling tactics

Calvary took over two aged care homes in Launceston from the Japara group at the end of 2021 and since then it’s been an uphill battle to get them to bargain for a new agreement – but union members standing up to their stalling tactics have just changed that.

The Japara Enterprise Agreement was due to expire at the end of 2021, and they told us that they’d prefer the new owner to initiate bargaining as they would own the business once the agreement came into force.

When we approached Calvary about a month after they took over from Japara, they said that they didn’t want to bargain at that stage as they were still finding their feet. HACSU asked in good faith that instead they give workers a pay increase which was owed to them at the end of December, but unfortunately Calvary refused this reasonable request.

We approached Calvary again in February 2022, but they still refused to bargain – using a number of excuses like “integrating their new services”, a COVID-19 outbreak, and a payroll system outage. HACSU again asked as a show of good faith that they give workers the pay increase that they were due if they really couldn’t come to the table, but unfortunately Calvary refused this request – again.

Calvary told us that they “understood the desire by HACSU to get bargaining underway but need time to get [their] ducks in a row.” After this response we thought it was about time Calvary got a new dog to get their ducks in a row if the current one can’t do the job.

Stalling negotiations is a common tactic of employers to discourage workers from unionising and getting a fair deal. But aside from dirty tactics, it’s also an unreasonable ask to make workers wait for bargaining, or a pay rise, for an undisclosed amount of time – especially when there’s a cost-of-living crisis that’s ongoing.

Members were tired of empty promises, and they started working on a petition to take to the Fair Work Commission that would force Calvary to the bargaining table. Calvary even tried to dispute this democratic petition process – but fortunately new changes to the Fair Work act came at the right time, forcing them to the table, petition or not.

New laws

Changes to the Fair Work Act, which unions and their members have been campaigning for, finally came to fruition at the end of last year. The Act now states that bargaining will commence where the union gives written notice that it wishes to bargain (if a previous agreement has expired within the last 5 years) rather than on the employers’ terms.

We’ve written to Calvary Aged Care since we won these changes to the act, and we expect to commence bargaining for a new enterprise agreement any day now.

Workers win

It’s a powerful example of what can happen when workers stick together, know their rights and stand up for change when it comes to their employers and workplace laws.

The collective power of union members around Australia who pushed for change on these laws has been hugely beneficial for workers like us, because as Calvary has proven, you can’t always rely on employers to do the right thing when it comes to your bargaining.

These changes that force employers to bargain are a hard-fought win of workers around the country fighting together and they mean you’ll no longer need to be left in limbo about commencing negotiations on your pay and working conditions. We reckon that can only be a good thing.

We’ll continue to challenge health and community service employers to keep them honest because we’re the union that fights for you.