Allity staff won higher wages after ‘No’ vote

Allity nurses have a history of standing together to win a better deal.

In 2017 and 2018, Allity made two unsuccessful attempts to push staff onto a substandard agreement.

A majority of staff voted ‘No’ to Allity’s offers in two secret ballots arranged by the company.

As a result, the company was forced to improve its pay rise offer from 1.8 per cent to 3 per cent.

ment we are united behind the union and the union is supporting a better deal for the staff,” she said.

She said workloads at her facility are getting worse, with a single RN having to look after as many as 58 residents on night shift.

“It’s getting harder and harder to replace staff who call in sick and people are doing double shifts almost every day. On multiple occasions, care teams are working short staffed.”

RNs had raised staffing and work-load issues with the facility’s general manager, but “our concerns are just ignored.”

“Why doesn’t management treat this staffing crisis as a priority? They need to pay much more attention to the safety of their staff.” n

The current NSWNMA log of claims for Allity includes shift-by-shift staff-to-patient ratios and a fair pay increase.

It also includes a minimum of two RNs on site 24 hours a day for any facility with 90 beds or more. n

Allity operates 45 residential facilities in four states, including 14 facilities in NSW.

The business has had six owners in the past 20 years.

Four have been private equity firms, which typically attract money from outside investors to buy companies, restructure them to cut costs and boost profits, then sell them.

Allity’s current owner, the aged care provider Bolton Clarke, bought it from private equity firm Archer Capital for a reported $700 million in December 2021.

Archer made a tidy profit, having paid $270 million to buy Allity from Lendlease in 2013.