The government has consigned aged care workers to the same scrap heap as child carers, say Labor, the Australian Greens and the workers' union.
A $1.1 billion fund to help give pay rises to aged care workers has been dumped days after the government scrapped a similar fund for child care workers.
It says neither fund would have covered all the workers in the sectors and the requirement for enterprise agreements was "unionism by stealth".
"It was a flawed and inequitable system with a clear objective of coercing union membership in the sector," Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews and his assistant minister Mitch Fifield said in a joint statement on the aged care fund.
They will move the money back into the general aged care pool and consult the sector about the best way to use it.
United Voice, the union representing child care and aged care workers, said both sectors struggled to attract and retain quality workers due to low pay rates.
"Workers across both sectors are reeling at the meanness of these decisions and concerned about the impact on their family budgets as they miss out on these much needed pay increases," national president Michael Crosby said.
It was particularly galling the decisions came right before Christmas, he said.
Opposition spokesman on ageing Shayne Neumann said the government had abandoned low-paid workers.
"(Prime Minister) Tony Abbott is the Christmas Grinch and his government has done nothing this week except dump on workers," he said.
The Greens warned that returning the $1.1 billion to general funding made it more likely to be targeted in the commission of audit looking for cuts.
