PM defends aged-care funding plan March 5, 2013 - 8:01AM Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defended a plan that will force aged-care providers to agree to workplace relations deals to qualify for $1.2 billion in federal funding. The plan, which will be unveiled on Tuesday by Aged Care Minister Mark Butler, has been criticised by Catholic Health Australia, which argues it is up to providers to make their own industrial arrangements with workers. The cash injection is aimed at increasing the wages of the sector's traditionally low-paid workers. Ms Gillard says the plan is necessary because the aged-care workforce needs to triple by 2050. "We do have problems attracting people into this workforce and having them stay there," she told Sky News. The aged-care workforce compact will give money to most aged-care providers only if they sign up to enterprise bargaining agreements to set industrial conditions. When asked whether employers and workers would have to sign up to the agreements, Ms Gillard said: "We want people to get a fair go at work." There are concerns the plan will increase the influence of three big unions in the sector - United Voice, the Australian Nurses Federation and the troubled Health Services Union - and trigger wage claims. Catholic Health Australia chief executive Martin Laverty is concerned about the new arrangements, despite supporting some of the government's plans. "A government funding contract should not require an industrial outcome," he told The Australian. It is up to the service provider to make their own industrial arrangements.