United Workers Union WA State Secretary Carolyn Smith, the national director for aged care, said thousands of aged care workers will walk off the job in WA, SA and Queensland today demanding better pay and minimal staffing requirements.

She told Liam Bartlett on 6PR Mornings that $22 per hour was not acceptable, ahead of a rally through the CBD at 1pm today.

The strike action from more than 4,500 staff across three WA facilities – Regis, Aegis and Hall & Prior – was not taken lightly.

“It’s been a really difficult decision to take this action… we’ve given the providers a couple of weeks’ notice, given them the ability to call in agency staff and work out their rosters, and our members are doing their action this afternoon, so not in the busy morning period where it would have that impact on the individual resident.”  she said.

Press PLAY below to hear what changes staff would like to see