Disability workers rally in NSW city of Newcastle over proposed cuts

Name: Disability workers rally in NSW city of Newcastle over proposed cuts
Uploaded: 2025-10-23T06:51:29+00:00
Duration: 1 min 42 s
Channel: ABC NEWS (Australia)
Description: Dozens of New South Wales disability and community workers have turned out to Newcastle’s foreshore rallying against pay cuts. The Australian industry group wants the fair work commission to cut equal pay for disability and community support workers which could see some employees lose up to 900 dollars per week.

ABC NEWS (Australia)

3 months ago

Dozens of New South Wales disability and community workers have turned out to Newcastle’s foreshore rallying against pay cuts. The Australian industry group wants the fair work commission to cut equal pay for disability and community support workers which could see some employees lose up to 900 dollars per week.

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00:00The Australian Services Union is here today rallying against a proposed wage cut which would see their services aligned with the aged care sector.

00:11The union says the proposal would impact the wages of around 75% of workers with some earning $900 less a week and disability support workers losing $180 a week.

00:23The union members here today say it will leave the vulnerable people in the community without essential support.

00:29They're asking the Australian Industry Group to open their hearts and see the work they do every day.

00:35So it would be absolutely devastating for local services in the Hunter and in Newcastle.

00:40It would mean that our sector would lose workers and it would mean that the essential services that our community rely on would not have the workers that they need to be able to provide that support.

00:51This year members achieved a 3.5% pay increase but they're here today defending those wages.

00:58Some here are sole income earners and will be forced to leave Newcastle because they simply won't be able to afford it.

01:05I spoke with one worker who says the main impact will be seen on clients needing essential care.

01:11At the moment it's very difficult to keep staff.

01:14People don't understand the complexity of the work.

01:17We have a lot of respect for our aged care workers but in our field we are not only supporting people in the community.

01:25We're cooking, we're cleaning, we're medicating, we're doing all these things and not having that knowledge of what our job actually entails, it's what makes it difficult.

01:34This rally here today coincides with a number of rallies held across New South Wales.

01:41We have two different places of Hawai'i'i working with a lot of outreach.

01:42We have five different maps of the public and such.

01:44We are planning to become a search.

01:45The way to keep the traffic and the main map of the public and their priorities.

01:48We will be able to keep the traffic and the members ready to ensure that our audiences 20 minutes is so far in the world.

01:53We have found the maximum amount of traffic that we are dealing with.

01:57We have a lot of traffic and new sites.

01:58We are planning to keep the traffic and weathering around.