Blue Care announces further pay rises
Direct carers and administrative staff working for Queensland provider Blue Care, are going to get a pay rise, according to an online report in Australian Ageing Agenda.
Over the next three years the organisation’s administration workers will receive an 18% wage increase while direct care and support staff will be given a 17.5% raise.
In addition to these measures, personal carers will also receive a weekly $20 care allowance along with a new income protection scheme.
The agreement has been approved by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and three relevant unions – the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the Australian Services Union (ASU).
Blue Care’s director of organisational development, Bob Gilkes, said the agreements reflected the group’s commitment to its staff.
“It’s deserved recognition for the dedication and professionalism our direct care, administrative and support staff provide every day of the year,” he said.
“We greatly appreciate their contribution and support.
“We are focused on being an employer of choice in the aged care sector and with help from the LHMU, AWU and ASU, we have worked on improving and updating this agreement to deliver the best possible pay and conditions to attract staff into the future.”
The announcement comes almost eight months after Blue Care gave its nursing staff an 18% pay rise, after reaching an enterprise bargaining agreement with the Queensland Nurses’ Union (QNU).
However Blue Care’s executive director, Stephen Muggleton, recently told Australian Ageing Agenda that the decision to lift nurse’s pay was at the expense of other outcomes.
“We did push through significant wage increases but we couldn’t afford not to,” Mr Muggleton said.
“With a nationwide shortage of skilled nurses as well as some significant pay increases for nurses in the public system, we did everything we could to retain key staff.”
“Those increases were not funded. The cost has come straight off our bottom line, constraining our ability to grow to meet the burgeoning demand for aged care in Queensland,” Mr Muggleton said.
