children playing

Childcare staff overworked and underpaid [AU]

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Author: 
Vaughan, Joanna
Format: 
Article
Publication Date: 
22 Jul 2009
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Young people have no incentives to become childcare workers and the industry will suffer from a shortage if conditions are not improved, an [Australian] parliamentary inquiry has heard.

Childcare worker Jodie Thiele, 25, who works for the University of South Australia City West Childcare Centre, said she was poorly paid and did not have access to "programming days", and there was little support to further her qualifications.

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The union representing childcare workers, the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union, wants the 50 per cent Federal Government childcare rebate to be redirected from parents to centres to help boost wages and attract teachers.

LHMU assistant national secretary Sue Lines said the union also wanted a $10 an hour across-the-board pay rise, better support to improve qualifications and an increase in non-contact time.

"It's ridiculous to expect workers to do the level of work they do, to the quality that is expected, at the quality that parents deserve, for the amount of money they get," she said.

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- reprinted from Adelaide Now