About 20 Public Service Association union members who work in home support and their supporters joined the demonstration in central Clyde St last Thursday to show care provider Access Community Health they were serious about their new collective employment agreement.
"We’re on strike between 12pm and 2pm because we have not had a pay increase in almost two years even though the Access company’s funding has gone up," Access carer Steph Duncan said.
"Instead they want to reduce our sick leave, take away recognition for tenure and qualifications and bring trial periods and a raft of other things they want us to sign off on before they will even start talking about pay.
"Balclutha in particular has an ageing population. It only has two residential care centres and they’re both full, so there are a huge number of vulnerable people relying on our close support coming to their homes."
Her colleagues sometimes managed more than 20 home visits a day, from Clinton to Mosgiel.
"My mother is 92, still at home and needs two visits a day including to help her get dressed," protest supporter Liz Hollows said.
"It’s a state we’re all likely to be in some day.
"It can’t be done without these workers but their numbers are dropping off because their pay and employment conditions aren’t attractive and a caring nature just isn’t enough after too long.
"They have themselves and their own families to care for too."
Access is funded by the government through a variety of contracts to provide home-based care, mainly for the elderly.
Chief executive officer Androulla Kotrotsos was contacted and provided the following statement.
"Access Community Health supports more than 40,000 people with nursing, personal care, rehabilitation and household assistance to enable them to live safely and independently in their own homes.
‘There was an uplift of up to 3.2% for some contracts in July 2024 to meet rising costs, but it was not tagged for pay rises, nor was it sufficient to do so.
"We would like to provide an increase for our workforce and understand their frustration.
"It is simply not true that we are looking to take away tenure-based pay or sick leave entitlements. We remain committed to a fair bargaining process."
Union representatives said they hoped for a response from Access by the end of this week before considering their next steps.
