The Guardian 8 June, 2005
Broken Hill confronts "choice"
Broken Hill disability workers say that they will lose their houses and cars, and have to
leave town if they are forced onto AWAs, the Howard government's non-union individual
work contracts. "We just want to give our kids a safe environment and stability and many of
us here are going to lose it", says local disability care worker Mary-Ellen Crimp. "Many of
the staff here are young, with young families. We're all getting a lesson."
Proprietor Wayne Nicholas threatened 30 employees of Silver Lea Care and Respite with the sack
before Christmas if they didn't sign AWAs that would have reduced conditions and removed
penalty and weekend rates.
A Federal Court ruling ordered Nicholas to reinstate the workers and restore their
earnings.
The service re-emerged as Summit, with the same workforce and Nicholas calling the shots, but
without guaranteed hours that delivered income security.
The new arrangements cost Broken Hill workers around $200 a week.
"He's thumbed his nose at the Federal Court and walked away from agreements", said Simon
Williams from the Australian Services Union.
But Crimp and her colleagues are standing firm against the use of AWAs and any attempt to
undermine their conditions, concerned it will affect the standard of service they provide to the
disabled and their families.
"A lot of our staff are really concerned", says Crimp. "It takes a certain kind of person to do this
work. You can imagine how the clients' families were feeling."
The AWAs are offering different hourly rates of pay for people doing the same work with the same
experience. Some of the rates vary by as much as three dollars an hour.
"We're worried about the conflict this would cause within staff. We fear it is going to set worker
against worker", said Ms Crimp who was offered a deal that would have seen her give up
overnight, weekend, on call and active nights rates, in exchange for a twenty-cent an hour pay
rise.
"My husband and I would have had to leave town", she says. "A majority, many young families,
would have lost homes and cars."
Employees are calling for the service to restore their conditions in line with the directions of the
Federal Court.