Aged care work ‘recognised and valued at last’

RN Jocelyn Hoffman has worked in aged care for 36 years and played a prominent part in the NSWNMA’s campaign for aged care reform.

Jocelyn has lobbied numerous politicians and spoken at many meetings in support of better staffing and working conditions in nursing homes.

In 2018, she spoke at a Sydney rally to launch the NSWNMA campaign for guaranteed staff-to-resident ratios in aged care.

She told the rally that aged care had become a commodity traded on the share market since the Howard government deregulated the sector with the Aged Care Act 1997.

“This loosely worded legislation has led to most nursing homes being dangerously understaffed. Yet alarmingly, they manage to pass accreditation checks,” she said.

“Our vulnerable elderly residents have been put at the mercy of whatever level of care companies will provide.

“How many more heartbreaking scandals do we have to endure before our government will act on the staffing crisis?” she asked.

Last month, Jocelyn said she was excited that aged care workers “are finally being recognised and valued”.

“Thank you to our NSWNMA and our ANMF. We are going in leaps and bounds now compared to the past,” she said during an online briefing for NSWNMA members in the sector. She urged aged care workers to join the union because “we cannot trust providers to do the right thing. It is only through our collective power that we can hold providers to account.”

“This is a very historic moment and we cannot allow government money allocated for this pay increase to go back to the providers, to buy their chandeliers and their pianos and their expensive cars.

“This money belongs to us. We worked so hard for it; we risked our lives through the pandemic.

“The community is behind us but you can’t do this on your own – you really need to join the union.” n

Employers must be accountable for taxpayer’s money

Assistant in nursing Susan Walton has worked in an NSW nursing home for 19 years and is a veteran of the NSWNMA’s long campaign for a better deal for aged care residents and workers.

She has lobbied federal politicians in Canberra and state MPs in Sydney, given TV interviews, and

New route for aged care migrants

The federal Labor government has introduced a new pathway for aged care employers to sponsor foreign workers as skilled migrants.

Employers can now sponsor direct care workers on skilled visas through a new Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement instead of having to negotiate companyspecific labour agreements for each individual provider.

campaigned for aged care reform during state and federal elections.

In an online briefing to NSWNMA members, General Secretary Shaye Candish introduced Susan as one of the members who gave evidence to the aged care royal commission in 2019 about what it was like to work in a chronically understaffed nursing home.

“Sue did a tremendous job and really spoke about the experiences of working in aged care,” Shaye said, before inviting her to speak to members.

Susan said the commissioners “were kind enough to listen to us explain what was happening in our facilities and what we had seen. We were very grateful to speak about this and make Australians realise that we’ve been the forgotten people.”

Susan said she and her co-workers were very excited to hear that over 250,000 aged care workers were finally being recognised by being awarded a 15 per cent increase –“especially because we all work extremely hard and we’ve been forgotten for a long time.”

“RNs are in charge of so many patients and have so much responsibility.

“It is the same with us AiNs. In our case we do five people’s jobs; we don’t have cooks, cleaners, laundry staff or kitchen staff, and we also give out medication plus try to care for the elderly – it doesn’t work. “Then it dawned on us that as we are on EAs, once again there will be no accountability and transparency for the 15 per cent pay increase (once the government pays it to the provider).”

Unless the government mandates that the money must go to workers, “we can’t really say we’re excited that we’re going to get this lifechanging money”.

Susan encouraged aged care workers to join the NSWNMA. “I can guarantee you, over the many years that we’ve been campaigning I would not have been able to do it without my union being there to support me,” she said. n

The Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement entitles the sponsor to bring in overseas care workers for a period of up to four years on a temporary basis, or for permanent residence after two years of employment.

The sponsor will need to enter into a memorandum of understanding with an aged care union to access the labour agreement.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said this approach would help to address workforce shortages “while also protecting workers and promoting good jobs”.

“In recognition of the increased vulnerability of temporary migrants, newly sponsored care workers will have an opportunity to speak to their union shortly after commencing, should they wish to do so,” he added.

The three occupations listed under the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement are nursing support worker, personal care assistant, and aged or disabled care carer. n