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Summer 2008

Community Services Push Better Wages & Conditions

THE community service industry is rapidly expanding as Australia's population grows and more services are required to meet growing levels of need, disadvantage and poverty.

Workers in social and community services have long experienced some of the worst working conditions in Australia.

Industrial issues with employers have always been fairly contentious as a result of insecure funding that is dependent on Government decisions.

The funding crisis has been evident for a number of years because non-government organisations exist in a grant based environment with barely enough financial support to go around.

Furthermore, poor working conditions, low pay, and the complexity and intensity of work has led to high levels of staff turnover within the community service industry, therefore the quality of service delivery to people and their communities suffers.

Community service workers often work with profoundly disadvantaged, traumatised and distressed people.

Employees often face difficult personal, emotional, social, physical and financial challenges whilst performing work, which is aimed at reducing the same challenges or obstacles for their client groups.

The HACSU has successfully campaigned on these issues in other industries over the last decade.

Recent discussions between the Tasmanian Council for Social Service, National Disability Services and HACSU have focused on the resolution of these issues on an Australia wide basis.

A number of campaigns are taking place around Australia in the community services industry to increase federal funding and wages for the industry.

Coalitions are being formed around Australia to lobby state and federal governments about funding for community services.

HACSU has recently finalised negotiations for Public Sector employees who were seeking agreement on pay parity with the remainder of Australia for a number of workers, including those in the provision of community services in the Public Sector.

HACSU State Secretary, Chris Brown said it is vital that funding is increased in the non government sector.

"HACSU is working to involve a coalition of union members, industry peak groups, employers and other allies in a broad industry campaign.

"To succeed we need to work together on campaigning at the state and federal levels about the provision of additional funding for community services.

"We need to ensure that we create a workforce for the future - a workforce that is well paid, highly skilled, well trained and professional," Chris Brown said.

Mr Brown said the resolution of many of the issues within the community services industry will lead to the attraction and retention of staff, because the defining issue for any industry with recruitment and retention issues is wages.

"We can demonstrate that improving the quality of community services builds better communities," he said.

"We need to do everything that we can to make sure that we have the strength to achieve this by building a sense of unity and solidarity across the industry.

"The further outsourcing of specialised Government services to the non-government sector creates urgency for action."

Chris Brown warns the longer we wait, the more expensive it will be, because pay and conditions are placed under greater pressure from Governments looking to cut costs.