Editorial
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This week has been an important one for the region’s three major disability enterprises – and the approximately 600 supported employees who rely on them.
A long-awaited decision by the Fair Work Commission on wage reform led to celebrations by management and workers at Flagstaff, Greenacres and The Disability Trust. The commission rejected the push from some advocate groups for a productivity-based tool to be solely used to determine the wages of people with disabilities working in any of the 180 Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs).
Instead they’ve urged stakeholders – including ADEs and the Commonwealth Government – to come up with a new classification structure for workers.
They want the wages to reflect the nature of the work, the level of skill and responsibility involved in doing the work and the conditions under which the work is done.
And that’s exactly what the ADEs have been pushing for all along.
For years they’ve been focused on the ‘My Job Counts’ campaign – which saw hundreds attend rallies in Wollongong mall and led to a petition which garnered over 10,000 signatures.
They felt the productivity based tool, or Supported Wage System, would inflate the wages of someone doing simple, repetitive tasks while not rewarding highly skilled work. It would have come at a huge cost to the disability enterprises and forced them to cut staff, or even to close.
Supported employees receive a pro rata wage rate – a percentage of the full rate worked out by a special calculator or wage assessment tool.
In covering the campaign in recent years, the Mercury has heard from countless workers happy with their wage – which is supplemented by their disability pension.
It’s not just the wage that’s important to them. It’s the socialisation, it’s the self-confidence and independence they’ve gained, and it’s the support they receive in their workplaces.
But while one battle may have been won, the work is not yet over. CEOs, including Chris Christodoulou from Greenacres and Roy Rogers of Flagstaff, are ready to work together to find a better wage tool.
They want the Commonwealth Government’s help – help they say that has not been forthcoming to date. The government “must show leadership” Mr Rogers said, as the next phase of the campaign kicks off.