SA child-care workers strike

SA child-care workers strike

By Teresa Dowding

ADELAIDE — Child-care workers from 90 centres in South Australia struck on March 11 over delays in wage talks. The 500 workers are members of the Miscellaneous Workers Union.

SA child-care workers are still waiting for a wage rise and new career structure handed down in a federal decision last September.

Most child-care workers are women, and they are grossly underpaid. A worker without formal qualifications receives $280 gross for a 40-hour week. This is less than the over-18 hourly rate at the notoriously stingy Hungry Jacks.

The new federal proposal would lift untrained workers' pay to $340 weekly, and qualified workers' from $350 to $410.

From GLW issue 5