Rann: still against injured workers
In earlier posts, I condemned the Rann government’s cutting back of injured workers entitlements.
It is always the so-called ‘tough’ approach to attack those vulnerable – here workers injured or with ill-health at work.
As Rann heads into a March election, he again again turned his back on injured workers, those now suffering on less compensation.
At the UTLC of SA I helped to draft and negotiate and put in place WorkCover and defended sucessfully planned Liberal cut-backs. So like the Rann government’s likely sell-out of SA OHS laws in ‘harmonisation’ (see blogs). it is important to raise this.
Labor and Liberal combined to defeat a Greens’ Private Member’s Bill that would have knocked off some of the worst elements of the Rann’s controversial changes to the WorkCover scheme.
Greens MLC Mark Parnell led the debate against the Government’s WorkCover changes in Parliament in August last year.
“Just like last year, Labor and Liberal have acted together against the best interests of injured workers,” he said.
The Greens Bill would have:
§ Scrapped the ’step down’ arrangements that reduced injured worker’s pay to 90% after 13 weeks, then 80% after 26 weeks;
§ Guaranteed a safety net for low paid workers to ensure that no worker receives income maintenance payments less than the state minimum wage;
§ Scrapped the cutting off of payments to workers who dispute a WorkCover Corporation decision;
§ Provided a greater choice of medical assessors; and,
§ Ensured more rights for retraining and rehabilitation.
When the Rann Government’s highly contentious changes to WorkCover laws passed last year, Mr Parnell announced he would bring the issue back to Parliament and attempt to reverse some of the worst cuts to injured workers’ rights and benefits.
“As promised, I have brought this issue back to Parliament to give Members a chance to right the wrongs of last year.
“Unfortunately, the same Labor MP’s who voted then against the interests of injured workers have continued to turn their backs on their traditional supporters, and have chosen to risk the future wellbeing of many South Australian working families,” he said.
yraw voting-badge
