
Issue No 16		04 June 1999

News

Child Care Campaign out of the Blocks

By Mikael Kjaerby - LHMU media officer

Child care workers in NSW are fighting to protect their working conditions as part of a campaign by the Australian Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union.


	Vanessa and Jan back the campaign

LHMU research officer Aaron Magner says some employer are attempings to take away basic conditions such as paid lunch breaks, Rostered Days Off and part-time loadings.

"After more than one year of negotiations, employers say they can only pay a small wage increase of 2.5% if child care workers agree to give away hard won conditions," Magner says.

A 2.5% pay rise is worth $10.35 per week before tax on average (for a CCW Step 4 child care worker). NSW child care workers haven't received a wage rise since July 1997.

A recent meeting of child care delegates endorsed the ongoing campaign for better wages and conditions.

A campaign kit and other material have been prepared and is available from LHMU organisers.

One of the lowest paid professions

"The LHMU believes that child care workers deserve substantially better wages and improved conditions. The recent NSW Government inquiry into pay equity has backed up this view, finding that child care work and qualifications are undervalued," Aaron said.

"Wages and conditions do not reflect the value and contribution of child care to the Australian community. This is despite the high demand and value placed on child care by parents and the ever increasing number of new profit based centres."

LHMU said that about 45% of child care workers earn between $10 and $13 per hour. Over 35% earn less than $10 per hour and only 18% earn more than $13 per hour, making child care one of the lowest paid professions in Australia.*

Get Active and win

Child care workers Vanessa Gramatkovski and Jan Crombie (pictured) believe they deserve a better deal.

"Employers are offering very little, yet they want us to give up a lot," said Vanessa. "That's not fair."

Jan said Union members 'need to get involved in the campaign. If we don't get active, we won't win.'

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  Issue 16 contents

Interview: Opening Australia
Lindsay Tanner talks about new ideas, new policy and new politics in the Information Age.

Unions: An Educated Fightback
A visiting US trade unionist reveals how training better union delegates is the key to reversing the membership slide.

Legal: A Fair Case for Free-Rider Laws
The proposal to enable unions to charge non-members a service fee for negotiating enterprise agreements is consistent with the principle of freedom of association.

History: New Ideas in Labour History
See the latest from the May issue of Labour History, A Journal of Labour and Social History.

International: Tiananmen Square Ten Years On
We remember the massacre and the role that working people continue to play in fighting injustice.

Review: Organising Our Future - What Use the US??
A new paper looks at what Australian unions can learn from the experiences of their American colleagues.

» State Wage Highlights Case for User-Pays

» Labor Hire Cowboys - the NFF Link

» Murder Call: Charge Bosses Who Kill

» Braddy Bunch to Lift Contractor Veil

» Rural Redundacies - Redeployment Confusion Reigns

» Woolies Shopfitters Win Back Jobs From Body Hire

» Political Payback: NSW Targetted in Costello Cuts

» Rio Tinto Buries the Truth

» Child Care Campaign out of the Blocks

» East Timor Mercy Ship heads for Dili

» Fabian Society Reforms

» Industrial Who�s Who Head for Geneva