MEDIA ALERT
Crisis in the Great Southern: Workers in hospitals and schools stop work to demand fair pay
WHEN: 1:15 pm today for interviews, Thursday 25 July.
WHERE: Albany Health Campus
WHAT: Hospital workers will stop work, and be joined by education assistants in Albany, to demand a fair pay rise from the WA Government. The stop work meeting will take place 1:30 pm – 2 pm.
United Workers Union members at Albany Health Campus and Albany schools stop work to demand the state government deliver a fair pay rise and a district allowance that meets the rising cost of living.
Quotes attributable to United Workers Union spokesperson Lisa Judge:
“Essential public sector workers in the Great Southern and the South-West are skipping meals and medical appointments amidst the rising cost of living as the WA Government has not historically provided them the same support they give to other regional areas.
“Schools and hospitals don’t work without these workers. They play crucial roles in areas where access to healthcare and opportunities are already limited. They are doing it tough due to low wages, higher food and fuel costs and a crippling housing crisis.
“It used to be that the higher costs of regional living were off-set by lower rents. That’s just not the case anymore. The outcome is low-paid workers being pushed out of these towns.
“This is why Union members are standing together and taking action for a pay rise that meets the rising cost of living. It is time for the WA Government to step up and support these workers to keep essential services in Albany running.”
Quotes attributable to Belinda Haynes, a Special Needs Education Assistant in Albany:
“My wages haven’t kept up and so I’ve taken work cooking in a cafe on a Sunday. It’s exhausting and unfair that I’ve spent 18 years working with the state’s most vulnerable kids, and now can’t afford to spend the weekends with my own kids and grandkids.
“Things are getting worse and so good people are leaving. It used to be that you needed a Cert III to work with special needs kids; but now my school advertises for EAs on Facebook. Wages need to go up so good experienced people can stay in the jobs they love.”
ENDS
Media Contact: 1300 898 633, [email protected]