Nurses vote to strike for first time in decades
Thousands of nurses and midwives have voted to strike for the first time in 20 years, saying promised "nation-leading" wage increases never transpired.
More than 96 per cent of Queensland Nurses and Midwives' Union members voted in favour of protected industrial action as a stoush with the state government escalated.
The 50,000-strong union is demanding the Queensland government follow through on its 2024 election commitment of "nation-leading" wages for the health workforce.
The state government's public sector wages offer is currently three per cent in April 2025, 2.5 per cent in April 2026 and 2027, and an extra three per cent in December 2027.
The union said 66.7 per cent of nurses and midwives would be paid less than their Victorian counterparts by the end of the agreement.
It is demanding that the current offer be increased.
The union also wants the agreement to address gender pay equity and a workforce shortage as well as provide a career pipeline for nurse practitioners.
Strike action could include union members wearing t-shirts to promote better pay, work stoppages, bed closures and reduced services.
"This overwhelming 'yes' vote for protective industrial action in the face of threats and the removal of rights highlights the collective strength of public nurses and midwives state-wide," union secretary Sarah Beaman said on Tuesday.
The industrial action proposal follows Queensland Health offering a revised enterprise agreement with the union late on Friday.
The union said it included some changes such as increased overtime rates for shift workers in future, permanent night shifts and more support for managers.
However, the offer did not include the "nation-leading" wage increase the union is seeking, nor did it remove clauses that allow a reduction in entitlements like parental leave and flexible working arrangements.
"Under this offer, there are still too many unanswered questions and missing commitments," Ms Beaman said.
"The important working conditions and rights of public nurses and midwives also remain at risk."
The fight for better pay has turned sour as Ms Beaman accused Queensland Health of threatening to strip nurses and midwives of a promised eight weeks' back pay if they entered the industrial action ballot.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Tim Nicholls did not comment on accusations of the department stripping the back pay offer or future negotiations.
"The Crisafulli government is committed to supporting our valued nursing and midwifery workforce - this includes making Queensland Health an employer of choice," the spokesperson said in a statement.
The union was set to lodge industrial action paperwork with the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission on Tuesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
18 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Three strikes': Demands for answers over repeat Monash IVF bungles
'Clearly at some point in time, management is responsible because they are approving budgets and systems and everything else.' Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said she was open to reforms that would better safeguard patients as wider concerns over the regulation of Australia's fertility industry will be discussed by Australia's health ministers in Melbourne on Friday. 'We have recently reformed the way in which we regulate fertility services, including Monash IVF, and an investigation has commenced into what went wrong here in Melbourne,' Thomas said. 'When we're thinking about fertility care, it's such an emotional rollercoaster for so many families and people seeking to either start or grow a family, and I want to ensure that we've got regulation that's fit for purpose, and that people can have confidence in these private fertility services in which they invest so much money.' The Victorian Health Regulator has launched an investigation into the embryo mix-up at Monash IVF's Clayton clinic. Loading But Swinburne University senior lecturer in corporate law Helen Bird said the sharemarket might deliver a far quicker verdict. 'The signs aren't good that they [Monash IVF] took this seriously at the start,' she said. 'They all point to poor risk management, but they also point to poor oversight by the board. 'The board may have its justifications, but after you've done it three times, with three major issues across two states at least, then you've got more than just the odd mistake going on here. You've got a systemic issue to deal with.' Monash IVF Group's board refused to provide a statement of confidence in the company's management when asked to do so by The Age on Wednesday, saying it would not comment beyond information already released to the ASX. Australian Shareholder Association chief executive Rachel Waterhouse said Monash patients would have concerns, while investors will be asking questions about the company's oversight. 'It's a concern, because you've got to trust in management, you've got to trust in the board, and mistakes in other organisations could have quite different outcomes, but this has a huge effect on trust,' Waterhouse said. While Monash IVF Group's price increased slightly to 62¢ on Wednesday, it is still a long way from its $1.42 value in August 2024, as well as the $1.09 at which it was trading before news broke of the Brisbane embryo error on April 11. 'The price has dropped because the market lacks confidence in the current management and governance of the company. The market reacts very quickly, it's much more powerful than the law in this regard,' Swinburne's Helen Bird said. Loading 'So what the major investors are doing, I imagine, is knocking on the door and saying, 'please explain, please give us some confidence that you can get on top of these issues going forward'.' Head of medical negligence at Maurice Blackburn Tom Ballantyne said the string of issues at Monash IVF demanded stronger action by regulators. 'It's three incidents in a couple of years and all of them raise concerns about the fundamental processes in the organisation,' he said. 'Fertility treatments are provided commercially, but it's a health service and a public good and needs to live up to that, and the government and Safer Care Victoria need to ensure it does live up to that.' Compensation is typically only awarded in medical negligence cases when permanent harm can be proved, which is not the case where a person is denied the chance to have a child, or potentially when they give birth to an unintended child. Rather than result in compensation, Ballantyne said most cases are resolved by offering patients replacement or free IVF cycles, with little public accountability. 'The provider can avoid the scrutiny of an actual court case that occurs in other areas,' Ballantyne said. 'It's all done behind closed doors. And, you know, the deterrence or accountability the compensation otherwise provides, is lost.'
The Age
18 hours ago
- The Age
‘Three strikes': Demands for answers over repeat Monash IVF bungles
'Clearly at some point in time, management is responsible because they are approving budgets and systems and everything else.' Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said she was open to reforms that would better safeguard patients as wider concerns over the regulation of Australia's fertility industry will be discussed by Australia's health ministers in Melbourne on Friday. 'We have recently reformed the way in which we regulate fertility services, including Monash IVF, and an investigation has commenced into what went wrong here in Melbourne,' Thomas said. 'When we're thinking about fertility care, it's such an emotional rollercoaster for so many families and people seeking to either start or grow a family, and I want to ensure that we've got regulation that's fit for purpose, and that people can have confidence in these private fertility services in which they invest so much money.' The Victorian Health Regulator has launched an investigation into the embryo mix-up at Monash IVF's Clayton clinic. Loading But Swinburne University senior lecturer in corporate law Helen Bird said the sharemarket might deliver a far quicker verdict. 'The signs aren't good that they [Monash IVF] took this seriously at the start,' she said. 'They all point to poor risk management, but they also point to poor oversight by the board. 'The board may have its justifications, but after you've done it three times, with three major issues across two states at least, then you've got more than just the odd mistake going on here. You've got a systemic issue to deal with.' Monash IVF Group's board refused to provide a statement of confidence in the company's management when asked to do so by The Age on Wednesday, saying it would not comment beyond information already released to the ASX. Australian Shareholder Association chief executive Rachel Waterhouse said Monash patients would have concerns, while investors will be asking questions about the company's oversight. 'It's a concern, because you've got to trust in management, you've got to trust in the board, and mistakes in other organisations could have quite different outcomes, but this has a huge effect on trust,' Waterhouse said. While Monash IVF Group's price increased slightly to 62¢ on Wednesday, it is still a long way from its $1.42 value in August 2024, as well as the $1.09 at which it was trading before news broke of the Brisbane embryo error on April 11. 'The price has dropped because the market lacks confidence in the current management and governance of the company. The market reacts very quickly, it's much more powerful than the law in this regard,' Swinburne's Helen Bird said. Loading 'So what the major investors are doing, I imagine, is knocking on the door and saying, 'please explain, please give us some confidence that you can get on top of these issues going forward'.' Head of medical negligence at Maurice Blackburn Tom Ballantyne said the string of issues at Monash IVF demanded stronger action by regulators. 'It's three incidents in a couple of years and all of them raise concerns about the fundamental processes in the organisation,' he said. 'Fertility treatments are provided commercially, but it's a health service and a public good and needs to live up to that, and the government and Safer Care Victoria need to ensure it does live up to that.' Compensation is typically only awarded in medical negligence cases when permanent harm can be proved, which is not the case where a person is denied the chance to have a child, or potentially when they give birth to an unintended child. Rather than result in compensation, Ballantyne said most cases are resolved by offering patients replacement or free IVF cycles, with little public accountability. 'The provider can avoid the scrutiny of an actual court case that occurs in other areas,' Ballantyne said. 'It's all done behind closed doors. And, you know, the deterrence or accountability the compensation otherwise provides, is lost.'
Perth Now
a day ago
- Perth Now
Hospital in hot water over 'cooking the books' claims
A major public hospital has been accused of pulling the wool over health authorities' eyes by doctoring emergency patient transfer records. Staff at Melbourne's Northern Hospital have allegedly routinely doctored records since 2017 to show patients being offloaded from ambulances within target times, the Herald Sun reports. Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said she wasn't aware of the "serious" claims from an unnamed hospital whistleblower until Tuesday evening. In response, Ms Thomas has ordered the health department work with the hospital at Epping in Melbourne's outer north to investigate. "These are all anonymous allegations to date," she told reporters on Wednesday. "Nonetheless, we need to find out exactly what has happened." Northern Health said in a statement it was reviewing the matter but taking the allegations "very seriously". Ms Thomas has not viewed reported screenshots of the falsified offload times but said she would welcome the documents being shared. She encouraged whistleblowers to come forward with information to hospital leaders, her office or the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission. "We'll get to the bottom of what's happening out at Northern and when I find out more I'll be happy to share it with you," the minister said. Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier believes the problem of "systematic fudging" may be more widespread. She is demanding an investigation be done at arm's length of government and will write to the Victorian Auditor-General's Office to request a separate probe. Victoria's statewide benchmark is for 90 per cent of ambulance patients to be transferred to emergency care within 40 minutes of arrival. Northern Health aims for 80 per cent within 40 minutes. An ambulance transfer is not considered complete until clinical information is handed over to an emergency department doctor and a patient has been moved to a hospital bed, care area, or waiting room. The latest statewide data shows 69.6 per cent of ambulance patients were admitted to an emergency department within 40 minutes. The median wait time in March was 26 minutes. Northern Hospital's median transfer time and performance against the 40-minute benchmark was consistently better than the statewide average. Ms Thomas insisted funding was not tied to hospitals hitting the key performance indicators. "There are no financial incentives to cooking the books," she said. But when unveiling new standards across all emergency departments to reduce ambulance ramping in February, she warned there would be "consequences" for failures. Ms Thomas on Wednesday sought to clarify she was referring to forcing hospital leaders to meet with her to explain the results. Hospitals were required to deliver a four per cent improvement in ambulance offload times by the end of June. Some of the state's busiest hospitals have demonstrated improvements of up to 10 per cent in transfer times since the introduction of the standards, Ms Thomas said.
