SA UNIONS REJECTS ATTACK ON INJURED WORKERS

15 May 2007

Injured South Australian workers should not be further penalised by cuts to their compensation payments, according to workers' strongest advocate, SA Unions.

It follows a submission to the state government's WorkCover Review by Business SA, seeking to cut entitlements to injured workers.

SA Unions Secretary, Janet Giles says Business SA effectively wants to punish workers who are injured by denying them rightful support.

"It's bad enough that workers are injured in the first place, without compounding their grief by ripping off their compensation and framing them as the cause of problems instead of the victims."

"Workers don't seek to be injured. They deserve support to recover and return to work. Employers have a responsibility to help workers get back to work safely and in good health. Business SA wants to cut that support to workers. This is counter productive and unfair."

"We believe that workers are entitled to assistance to rehabilitate and get back to work. Cutting entitlements makes it harder for workers to get better and begin working again. This is bad news for state productivity", Ms Giles says.

"SA Unions is prepared to fight long and hard to protect the interests of working people. We will not accept this sort of attack on injured workers. Business SA is not satisfied that workers have been stripped of their industrial rights - they are now trying to undermine the rights of injured workers too."

"Injured workers are not just statistics against which a dollar figure is put - they are real people with real needs. They deserve to be treated with humanity and dignity, not deprived of support by a short sighted business lobby."

"WorkCover's reason for existence is to help people - and Business SA is trying to stop workers getting the help they need. It defies WorkCover's very purpose", Ms Giles says.

"A better approach would be to improve the management of injured workers, strengthen the incentives for employers to assist injured workers to safely return to work - and the penalties for non compliance, and to invest in better occupational health and safety. Injury prevention means less demand for compensation and thus reduces employer contributions. SA Unions will outline its arguments in detail when it releases its submission to the WorkCover Review in the near future", Ms Giles says.