Hospital staff across Western Australia will strike today for better pay. The Industrial Relations Commission failed to assure the government that it would stop workers from carrying out industrial action. On Friday, the union rejected an offer to increase their weekly pay by $27.
The Union feels that the Government failed to back down on its plans to privatise a number of hospital jobs. The Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union's Carolyn Smith informed that the four hour strike will take place at midday. Up to 8,000 cleaners, orderlies, catering staff, sterilization technicians and other workers plan to rally outside parliament during their four-hour strike.
The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous union which represents the workers, says the offer of a 3.5 per cent pay rise per year over three years is not enough to cover the rising cost of living. “Hospital workers around the state are going to take industrial action in support of their bargaining…The key issue is privatisation and the pay rise. The government seems hell bent on privatising their jobs and asking those workers to agree to their own jobs being privatized. They are also only offering these workers 72 cents an hour pay rise,” she added.
The Director General of Health Kim Snowball expressed his disappointment with the union that the strike actions may put patient safety at risk. The union and the Health Department are due to go before the Industrial Relations Commission today. As a support to the workers’ strike the Australian Nurses Federation has postponed its own stop work meetings that were due to start tomorrow over their pay and conditions dispute. The Federation's Mark Olson says the meetings will be delayed until the following week in the interests of patient safety.
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