Youth Affairs Network of Queensland - An Open Letter to Non-Government Social and Community Services in Queensland

An Open Letter to Non-Government Social and Community Services in Queensland

Tuesday, 04 March 2008

From David Smith, Branch Secretary
Australian Services Union, Queensland Services Branch

Dear Colleagues,

As you are well aware, non-government social and community services in Queensland are facing a significant challenge which poses a clear threat, not only to their viability but to the quality of services they deliver to vulnerable Queenslanders. The challenge that I am referring to is that of retaining and recruiting staff. I am writing to seek your support in our campaign to bring about fair pay and working conditions for staff in these services.

Download a copy of the original, signed letter here. 287.58 Kb

Social and community services in Queensland, and the people they serve, suffer from one of the highest turnover rates of staff in Australia at 23%^¹. The high costs of regular staff turnover and the effect this has on the quality of service delivery is well documented elsewhere and I refer you to research by The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission^², YANQ^³ and the ASU's own ‘Building Social Inclusion in Australia' report^⁴.

There is little doubt that the relatively poor pay and conditions provided to staff in the non-government social and community services sector is a significant factor behind the high rates of turnover and the difficulty services are facing recruiting staff.

The Australian Services Union (ASU / QSU) has embarked on a long-term campaign to address this problem. In the campaign we will:

Develop Multi-Employer Agreements (MEA) within every sector of the social and community services industry - Youth Services, Disability Services, Advocacy Services, Aged Care Services, Children's Services.
Lodge an application for a New State SACS Award which will lock in existing conditions (in the SACS and CASH Awards) to maintain existing standards. More importantly, the new Award will set the benchmark from which MEAs in all parts of the sector can begin to make real improvements.

The ASU began the MEA campaign in partnership with the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland^⁵ to negotiate a Youth Services Multi-Employer Agreement. The ASU is also supported by the Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) who will assist in the overall campaign to increase wages funding in the sector.

Unfortunately, the resource intensive nature of negotiating new agreements means that the Union can only work with one part of the industry at a time. I assure you that, once negotiations in the Youth sector are complete, the ASU looks forward to working with members, employers, employees, peak bodies and other stakeholders within the social and community services industry to negotiate their MEAs.

To have any chance of success in the long term, this campaign needs your support. I urge you to support the campaign. Below are ways your organisation and staff can support and participate in this campaign.

Join the Union. Presently approximately 10% of staff in social and community services are members of the Union. With such low levels of membership, workers in the sector are robbed of a strong voice in negotiating better outcomes with funding bodies. By workers joining the ASU you will be making sure we have the resources needed to carry out this campaign in the long term.
Help us to Lobby Funding Bodies. Any improvements to pay and conditions must be supported by all relevant government funding bodies at both the State and Federal levels. The Union, YANQ and QCOSS need your support in talking to local MPs, local offices of funding bodies and all stakeholders of the industry. Look for details on how to help with the lobbying in Union newsletters and in the newsletters of the Peaks.
Talk to your colleagues. Advocating for fair pay and conditions need not be a taboo. Talk to your colleagues about this campaign and ask them for their support.
Talk to your management committees. Organisations have as much to benefit from better pay and working conditions as their staff. Talk to your management committees about some of the benefits - including spending less on recruitment and induction training and more on professional development and improving service quality.

In closing, I would like to thank the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland for their support in initiating negotiations on a Youth Services Multi-Employer Agreement and to the Queensland Council of Social Service for their support and look forward to working with them and the other Peaks to bring the benefits of MEAs and Certified Agreements to this sector.

If you would like more information about any aspect of this campaign, please contact either: