VHIA and the March 4 Rally
The organisation representing health services, VHIA, sent us a curious letter. They reckon we’re misleading you all by telling you that the Abbott Government wants to attack our minimum wage, penalty rates and rights at work. We laughed pretty hard.
They were so thoughtful they thought to tell us that employers have never sought to reduce or abolish penalty rates. Talk about misleading because that’s not true. For example, in the last agreement negotiations the VHIA pursued claims to have weekend penalty rates for Pharmacists abolished and replaced with shift allowances, which would have resulted in significant reductions in pay for this group of members.
But best of all was their commitment that no employers intend to reduce or abolish penalty rates in upcoming rounds of bargaining.
We’ll be holding them to that!
