News Service from House Harris

Fed: Unions warn childcare centres to be careful what they wish for

CANBERRA, March 26 AAP - Privately-run childcare centres risk closure if they support calls to cut staff wages, trade unions warn.

Private operators have urged the Fair Pay Commission to freeze or reduce the minimum rate earned by most childcare workers.

The commission is in the process of determining the minimum pay rate, which unions want raised by $21 a week.

The Australian Childcare Alliance, which represents 2,700 private childcare centres, says the economic downturn has increased the number of childcare vacancies.

"Those vacancies and other pressures are already resulting in childcare centre job losses, in reductions in the amount of hours available for staff and in reductions in new employment opportunities," it says in a submission to the commission.

If the federal minimum wage of $14.31 an hour was increased it should be phased in over three years, the alliance said.

The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), which represents childcare workers, says the submission is a "slap in the face".

"We are outraged," assistant national secretary Sue Lines told AAP.

The private childcare sector, which is heavily subsidised by government benefits, was not going broke.

"In fact, in many places there is a shortage of care because workers are already leaving the sector because of the low wage."

The private sector should be very careful about what it was advocating, Ms Lines warned.

"It will be hard for childcare workers to front up to workplaces if they know that their employer is trying to cut their wages."

Employers needed to be very careful because their centres could face closure if workers left.

The Australian Greens have also criticised the alliance submission, saying the economic downturn was no excuse to devalue the work of childcare workers, who deserved a pay rise.

"The fact that childcare workers are already among the lowest paid in the country is appalling in itself," Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"The idea that the people who are responsible for the care and teaching of our youngest children should be disadvantaged further with a pay freeze or pay cut is unacceptable."