Nurse fronts penalty rates campaign

Teidi Chad, veteran nurse, is the face of a campaign defending penalty rates launched by UnionsACT in October.
The campaign brings together unions and community groups to call on the Federal Liberal Government to protect penalty rates.
Ms Chad, a nurse for forty-five years and single mother of three, appeared in crowd-funded television ads. Her message is that the extra money paid to her for taking shifts outside normal working hours helped her afford to raise her family.
In the campaign advertisement, which also launched across thousands of emails and social media platforms Ms Chad states, "If I didn't have penalty rates with my pay, I would have had to go on a welfare or Centrelink payment to assist me with raising three boys".
“Penalty rates are needed to help you put food on the table, clothing on your backs and just to lead a normal life,” she shares.
The campaign focuses on the importance of penalty rates for everyday workers and their families. The union movement across Canberra will fight any move to cut penalty rates, the minimum wage and rights at work.
Alex White, Secretary of UnionsACT, explains why the union is committed to defending penalty rates.
“There is no evidence to show that cutting penalty rates increases employment or productivity – instead it will Americanise our workplaces and push workers into poverty."
“The same people calling for cuts to penalty rates and wages are the elite business lobbyists and conservative politicians who do not rely on penalty rates."
“Instead of trying to cut wages and reduce conditions in a race to the bottom, the Federal Government should aim to make Australia a high-wage, high productivity nation,” he says.
UnionsACT is the independent peak body for unions in the Canberra region, representing over 33,000 working people.
Read the full article and watch the campaign trailer here.