SA Government Workers in Action in Struggle Against Rising Cost of Living

Written by: Ned K. on 8 March 2025

South Australian Government employed cleaners, food service attendants in public hospitals and disability community and home carers are leading the struggle of public sector "blue collar" workers against the rising cost of living. They imposed work bans which did not interfere with patient care but put the Government on notice they were prepared to escalate their action if necessary to win a decent wage increase.

The Government's initial wage offer of 3% per year triggered the industrial action,

In an interview on ABC radio one of the workers' leaders said that the SA Government's wage offer amount to the miserable sum of just an 83 cents per hour pay rise for most workers. She said that hospital and disability workers were in the lowest paid group within the public sector and workers were taking action to win wage increases that took into account the rising cost of living over the last two or three years.

Negotiations for a new Enterprise Agreement had dragged on since mid-2024. The workers action received a lukewarm response from the Government. What made disability sector workers more determined was the knowledge that some of the major private sector disability providers had agreed to wage increases up to 5% higher than what the Government paid!

The industrial action is sure to escalate until the Government makes an acceptable wage offer to some of the lowest paid workers in the SA public sector workforce.

This is only one headache for the Malinauskas Government on the wages front, as other public sector workers such as Ambulance service Paramedics are also in negotiations this year for new Enterprise Agreements with wage increases and cost of living high on the list of logs of claims.

Rising Cost of Living A Key Issue For Workers On Eve of Federal Election

The industrial action taken by government support services workers is an indication of a rising tide of struggle of workers against the rising cost of living, While the official ACTU election campaign leading up to the federal election is about " Don't Trust Dutton", the resistance of Labor State Government's to wage claims of State Government workers' wage claims has many workers asking themselves -"Can I trust either a Dutton Government or the current Labor Government?" 

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