IT'S the fastest growing industry in the country but its workers have been held back and the community let down by an outdated award that has not kept pace.
That was the message from Australian Services Union NSW and ACT Secretary Angus McFarland for those gathered in Newcastle to kick off a national campaign for fairer pay and career progression.
"It's the fastest growing industry in Australia and yet workers are leaving our sector in droves," Mr McFarland told the crowd.
The award governing the pay and conditions of community and disability sector workers was designed in 1990 for Queensland, he said.
"And we know a lot has changed, since the 1990s," Mr McFarland said.
People's skills, experience, qualifications and the complexity of their work was not being properly valued and recognized he said.
And it was unfair, and unjust, for the communities who rely on the system, to have a revolving door of workers.
The need and benefits of consistency in the staffing of residential care facilities such as group homes, out-of-home-care settings, as well as throughout the disability and community services sector have been highlighted in many reports in the past 12 months, as well as the Royal Disability Commission.
Workers rallying for change at the Newcastle tram Sheds were told this was the start of a potentially long fight, which would not be put in front of the Fair Work Commission until mid-2025, and may take years.
"This is not going to be easy," Mr McFarland said.
"And it is not going to be won quickly."
It is understood about 10,000 workers across the Newcastle, Hunter, Lake Macquarie and Central Coast work under the award.
Hunter Workers secretary Leigh Shears joined the crowd along with members of a host of other unions in solidarity such as the NSW Midwives and Nurses Association, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, United Workers Union, Independent Education Union, and the Maritime Union of Australia, as well as the Hunter Jobs Alliance.
Unions also presented a united front in the Fair Work Commission on Monday where a three-day hearing began about the use of sleepover shifts.
Sleepover shifts are common in the disability and community sector where care service providers have their employees sleep for periods overnight while on site.
They must remain on site to offer assistance at a moment's notice if there are disturbances or emergencies.
Peak Industry body, the Australian Industry Group, wants sleepover shifts to be classified as a break between shifts.
Unions, including the ASU, say workers could be rostered on for as long as 28 hours in a row before any overtime pay kicked in.
