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The St Vincent de Paul Society National Council has welcomed an agreement between the Federal Government and the Australian Services Union to address the low wages of community sector workers, 87 per cent of whom are women.
The agreement potentially paves the way for a significant increase to the wages of employees under the Social and Community Services award.
The Society’s national president, Syd Tutton, said the Society is a volunteer organisation whose mission is “to build a more just and compassionate society”.
“We do this by taking the side of the poor and marginalised,” he said. “We are joined in this mission by paid employees ... many of them also volunteering their time in unpaid work in addition to their duties.”
He added: “We value these employees as companions in our mission to the marginalised. We therefore welcome this historic agreement in which the contribution of these workers, most of whom are women, will hopefully receive greater recognition by means of an increase in funding.”
Vinnies national council chief executive officer, Dr John Falzon, says it is up to all in the community sector to ensure that this translates into appropriate government funding measures so that workers are valued in their daily work with people who are pushed to the margins of society.
“We live in a time of incredible change. We are still feeling the effects of the Global Financial Crisis and many non-government organisations are still struggling as a result,” he said. “Let us not forget that significant portions of the Australian population have been living in a permanent recession, cut off from opportunity and prosperity. It is a sign of a progressive democracy that we would, as a nation, seek to acknowledge those who have been there on the front line with them.”
15 November 2009
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