Aged care Nurses set for 23% Increase

Aged care nurses look set to accept a new enterprise agreement, which will go a long way towards gaining parity with nurses working in other fields.

The new enterprise agreement would deliver a 23.75% cumulative wage increase, plus a range of other benefits.

The agreement comes after a long and at times difficult negotiation process brought about primarily by pressures from funding shortages.

The 23.75% includes a 5% interim down-payment already received by nurses.

On top of the wage increases, the proposed enterprise agreement also includes;

an increase to the incharge allowance,

post-graduate qualifications allowances,

locked in redundancy provisions,

increased paid maternity leave, phased in over the life of the agreement,

a preceptor allowance,

other improvements.

HACSU Assistant State Secretary, Tim Jacobson, said it was pleasing to see aged care nurses make gains and close the pay gap with other nurses.

"Nursing homes were potentially facing huge difficulties in attracting and retaining staff with the disparity in wages."

"This will not only make a big difference to members' pay packets, it will help nursing homes with their staffing situation."

Tim Jacobson said negotiators had been able to make substantial gains during the negotiating process.

"The difference between what was offered initially by employers and the final outcome is very significant," Tim said.

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