We had our second bargaining meeting yesterday to progress a new nurses and midwives agreement, which is sorely needed to stem the workforce crisis we are seeing across nursing in Tasmania.
In this meeting, your bargaining reps Bianca, Rob, and Ben, presented your log of claims to the government’s negotiators. They provided crucial on the floor insight – particularly in relation to the safety issues that HACSU nurses are experiencing caused by chronic understaffing and rising patient aggression.
Here are just a few of the key claims we discussed:
Nation-leading wage increases
Your union has made a claim for a 21% pay increase over three years, in line with the most recent pay outcome that Victorian public sector nurses achieved. This is also in the context of New South Wales nurses recently achieving a significant wage outcome as a result of arbitration through that state’s industrial tribunal.
200% shift penalties
Nurses should not be treated differently from other healthcare workers when it comes to Sunday shift penalties. That’s why we’re proudly drawing a line in the sand and saying nurses must be paid 200% on Sundays. We made it very clear to the Department that this is one of the top priorities that must be resolved in this round of bargaining.
Occupational violence allowance
Nurses who treat a forensic patient in a facility like Wilfred Lopes receive a 6.5% allowance, whereas a nurse treating the very same patient in a mental health unit like Northside or the RHH’S MHIU does not. How’s that fair? That’s just one example raised by your bargaining team.
Nurses in mental health, ED, rehab and other contexts face heightened safety risks, and we are progressing a claim for nurses to be remunerated for this through a 6.5% occupational violence allowance.
HACSU nurses are fighters and know that just asking nicely never works. The Department has indicated it will have a response to our log of claims by mid-May, so rest assured that we will be out and about in your workplace soon to talk about what we will do if the Department does not heed HACSU nurses’ calls.
If you would like to get in touch with us, please ring 1300 880 032 or email [email protected]