WORKERS AT MARY OGILVY STOP WORK

AGED CARE WORKERS STOP WORK TO PURSUE EXCESSIVE WORKLOADS AND NO BULLYING IN THEIR WORKPLACE AGREEMENT.

The Mary Ogilvy Homes Society, a not for profit residential aged care facility in New Town, has angered their employees by refusing to include bullying and excessive workload clauses in a new workplace agreement.

What Management have done since has demonstrated how vital the need to address bullying is at Mary Ogilvie as management have been intimidating workers for simply trying to take lawful industrial action. As a result workers at Mary Ogilvy today held a stop work meeting calling on management to reopen negotiations for their agreement.

In May this year, staff at the aged care facility, voted “No” to a new workplace agreement because it did not include clauses to address excessive workloads and bullying.

HACSU Assistant Secretary, Robbie Moore said, “Since our Members rejected the offer from Mary Ogilvy, we have attempted to reopen negotiations with management in order to achieve a fair outcome.”
“Not only have management rejected our attempts to negotiate, they have harassed workers and told them that if they participate in low level bans such as wearing badges and handing out leaflets they will lose pay,” Robbie Moore said.

In June, workers voted to introduce low level industrial action, including, wearing badges, not delivering dirty linen to the laundry and not emptying kitchen waste bins. Instead of respecting the right for legal protected industrial action or even coming back to the table to negotiate, Mary Ogilvie management have taken the unprecedented step of saying workers taking low level industrial action will receive no pay at all.

“People have a right to stand up for better conditions at work. That Mary Ogilvy appears to be bullying and harassing their own staff, seems to make it clear as to why they don’t want to include a bullying clause in their workplace agreement,” Robbie Moore said.
HACSU Assistant Secretary, Robbie Moore