SUPPLEMENT TO THE AEU NEWS • JULY 2013

A E U h e a d o f f i c e 112 Tr e n e r r y C r e s c e n t , A b b o t s f o r d 3 0 6 7 Te l : 0 3 9 417 2 8 2 2 Fa x : 13 0 0 6 5 8 0 7 8 We b : w w w. a e u v i c . a s n . a u

DISABILITY SERVICESNEWSLETTERStaff-only facilities an OHS issueJen Walsh explains why employees’ workplace amenities should be a matter of good planning, not good luck.

WORKPLACE amenities and facilities are provided for the health, safety, welfare and personal

hygiene needs of employees. They include toilets, shelter, seating, dining rooms, change rooms, drinking water, personal storage and washing facilities. They also include the work environment, covering workspace, temperature, air quality, lighting and flooring.

Sadly, this aspect of occupational health and safety (OH&S) in disability workplaces is often a matter of good luck rather than good planning.

To further protect their OHS interests, all work-groups should have a duly elected health & safety representative (HSR) to represent their workgroup, to enable OHS consultation and communication, and to access the powers and protections of the OHS Act. The HSR cannot be the same person as the OHS nominee or management person.

The WorkSafe Victoria compliance code for Workplace Amenities and the Work Environment specifies basic requirements for employees’ comfort, welfare, and health and safety. The AEU encourages and supports employees to ensure that amenities and facilities are not only adequate, but representa-tive of best practice in a modern workplace.

This article focuses on two of the above provi-sions: dining facilities and toilets.

In relation to dining facilities, the workplace must provide “access to hygienic facilities for preparing and eating of meals while at work”. It also requires workplaces to provide a separate area and a place away from the work process for rest breaks and the consumption of food. This poses special relevance to our disability settings, where the nature of the work means that food preparation and eating times are often shared with clients.

All employees need to have “access to clean and hygienic toilet facilities at all times”. Staff-only toilets need to be provided for basic health, welfare, privacy and dignity.

We know from discussions with members that even when on site, staff are often expected to share both toilet and lunch facilities with clients.

The management philosophy underpinning the sharing of amenities and facilities is that this promotes an “inclusive” environment for clients, as well as an expectation that equal standards of hygiene will and do apply.

While it is expected that staff and client toilet and meal preparation areas be maintained to equally high standards, it is highly desirable and not unreasonable to provide a separate and lockable toilet for staff-only use. Recent WorkSafe inspector activity in a disability centre has confirmed that this as a reasonable and achievable practice. Many centres do provide separate staff toilets as a matter of staff welfare and respect.

Similarly, while staff supervise client meal times and frequently share meals, it cannot be assumed that sharing dining facilities meets the WorkSafe compliance code. This is a matter for discussion and

consultation locally, between management and staff, as per the OHS Act.

The OHS Act clearly specifies the OHS manage-ment responsibilities of all employers, including the need to be proactive, preventative and consultative.

If any of these matters are an issue in your centre, please contact the AEU on (03) 9417 2822 for further information and assistance. �

Jen Walsh is AEU deputy vice president for TAFE and adult provision

Working out your minimum payMany of our day service members became eligible for pay rises this month after a long wait.David Bunn industrial officer

For AEU members working as job support workers, the Fair Work Ombudsman has now calculated your minimum rates of pay to apply from the first pay period on or after July 1, 2013. These rates include the 2.6% annual wage review starting from that date. You can find those rates on

the Ombudsman’s site (www.fairwork.gov.au) through their Award finder tool. However, it is simpler to go to the AEU website, where we have extracted those rates and made them available for members.

Most members in these sectors are covered by their awards, not agreements. It is worth noting that on July 1, the casual loading in both of these awards rose to 24% of the base rate.

For members in disability day services the story is much more complicated unfortunately. We have sent pay sheets calculated by the AEU to every CEO in Victoria and invited them to discuss these rates with us. continued on page 2 �

2 Disability Services newsletter | july 2013

All off ers valid until 31 July 2013 and available to new retail customers only (over 18 years). Interest rates are per annum, eff ective 1 April 2013 and are subject to change without notice. To qualify for these off ers promotional code must be quoted at time of customer application and all off ers taken up within 4 weeks of becoming a customer or 31 July 2013, whichever occurs fi rst. � is information does not consider your objectives, fi nancial situation or needs - consider the suitability of this information and refer to Terms and Conditions or Product Disclosure Statements before acquiring a product, available at our branches or call 1300 654 822. 1. Subject to Terms and Conditions an interest rate reduction applies on early withdrawals. Victoria Teachers Limited ABN 44 087 651 769, AFSL/Australian Credit Licence Number 240 960.

Bank with the bestVictoria Teachers Mutual Bank’s recent awards show our customers really do receive the best: Value for money. Award winning service. Customer satisfaction.To become a customer or view more great off ers, visit victeach.com.au/JOIN13AEU or call 1300 654 822.

For 6 months.1($500 - $50,000).

Fixed rate of return.4.50% p.a.

Term Deposit

Quote promotional code JOIN13AEU

Disability experts to speak at conference

The AEU Victorian Branch is holding an AEU TAFE and Adult Provision

(TAP) Conference for our members working in the TAFE, Disability Services and AMES sectors. The theme of the conference is “Public adult education: life-long and life-wide”.

We have not held a conference for TAP teachers since our 2009 conference, so we anticipate a good response from our membership.

The conference will be held at the Victoria University Conference Centre on Thursday August 29, 9am–3.30pm.

Kurt Fearnley is our keynote speaker. Kurt is a world champion wheelchair athlete, whose infectious energy and passion for life inspires and motivates audiences across age groups and industries.

We will also have sector-specific presentations for our TAFE, Disability and AMES members, and workshops that will address a range of professional issues for the workforce.

Disability services sector panelThree experts from the disability sector will be speaking at the TAP conference.

Brent Hayward is a Disability Practice Advisor for the Senior Practitioner in the Office of Professional Practice, Department of Human Services. He has a particular interest in supporting people with severe and profound disabilities, the health needs of people with intellectual disabilities and the assessment and treatment of dual disability.

Dr Frank Lambrick is currently the acting Senior Practitioner for Disability Services in Victoria. He is a lecturer in Criminology (Forensic Disability) at the

University of Melbourne, an Honorary Fellow within the Department of Psychology at Deakin University and a Research Associate within the Department of Psychology at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

James O’Brien is the State Manager, National Disability Services Victoria. James has recently worked on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and has experience in public policy and government relations. He worked as a senior political advisor to the former Bracks Government.

We would be delighted to see a good representation of our TAP members from both metro and regional disability sites at the August conference — free to AEU members.

The AEU will provide financial assis-tance of up to $180 in backfill costs for the first 20 members to RSVP.

The AEU has just commenced advertising this event and we are

already attracting a lot of interest. The venue can accommodate over 150 people, so please get in early — visit www.aeuvic.asn.au/TAP_conference to register and find out more. �

VENUE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE CENTRE Level 12, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne (opposite Flinders Street station)

REGISTRATION Conference is free for AEU members – fully catered Registration is essential – Please email ann.dettenberg@aeuvic.asn.au

CLOSING DATE AUGUST 21

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: KURT FEARNLEYKurt Fearnley is a world champion wheelchair athlete with a can do attitude that makes the impossible possible. His infectious energy and passion for life inspires and motivates audiences across age groups and communities.• Three-time Gold medal Paralympian• Six-time World Champion• Commonwealth Athlete of the Year with a Disability• 2009 NSW Young Australian of the Year

TAFE, DISABILITY & AMESConference

Thursday August 29, 2013

Public Adult Education: LifeLoNG & LifeWiDe

Victorian University Convention Centres are available for corporate, government and private events. Tel: 9919 1012 email: ccentre.city@vu.edu.au

Many have and we hope that the information is reaching you, along with the appropriate wage rises. We believe that many workers in day services became eligible for pay rises this month. For many, this

will be the first time their minimum wage rates have risen above those in expired agreements.We are still working on getting the information onto the website in a usable form for members. If it’s

any consolation, we can tell you that the Fair Work Ombudsman is still puzzling over this task too. In the meantime, we have trained over 100 instructors and their managers in how to work out

minimum salaries in this area and will continue with that task in the months ahead. Many union staff have also been trained to assist you.

For those few employees on the award in this sector, the casual loading rose to 24% on July 1. �

Working out your minimum pay� continued from page 1

Life-long and life-wide education is the theme for the upcoming AEU conference for TAP members.