QBC: Keep up the pressure

Published: 13 September 2011

Hundreds of emails and letters have been sent to the Baptist Care board and CEO. We believe this is having an impact in the negotiations.

A meeting of the Queensland Baptist Care (QBC) Enterprise Bargaining Committee was held on 5 September.

At that meeting the QNU reiterated our position in relation to:

  • No general cleaning duties to be listed in the generic level statement but nurses will continue to clean up spills and bodily fluids, as they do now.
  • No attendance at compulsory meetings and training unless they are paid for.
  • A career path set out in the agreement which requires QBC to have advanced practice AIN and RN positions at facilities.
  • Wages increases of 4.5 per cent per annum with the first increase backdated to 1 July 2011.

QBC has said that they will not back pay any increase that comes out of this round of enterprise bargaining because the QNU has held up negotiations.

In fact, the first meeting to discuss the progress of bargaining was scheduled – at the instigation of the QNU – for 4 April but was cancelled by QBC, who declined to make themselves available again until the end of May.

The QNU’s requests for an earlier meeting were also declined.

It can hardly be said that the QNU is “holding up” the agreement just because we won’t agree to QBC’s unfair proposals!

The outcome of the meeting is that QBC management will consider the QNU’s position again in relation to these issues and provide their response prior to the next meeting, which is scheduled for 22 September.

Right of Entry

As QNU officials were visiting Baptist Care sites last week, they were told that they can no longer use the tea rooms for meetings as they have over many years.

According to QBC management, other staff have complained about the practice.

While we cannot verify that this complaint has been made – or if there have been complaints at all facilities – we have agreed for the time being to use other rooms so long as they meet the requirements of the Fair Work Act 2009, which is that a union official may be directed to hold a meeting in a particular room by the employer so long as the intention of the QBC is not to intimidate people who might want to participate or discourage them from doing so, or make it difficult for people to participate because the room is not accessible during mealtimes or other breaks.

If you feel like the choice of room for union meetings is doing any of these things please bring this to the attention of the QNU official so we can rectify the situation.

Keep up the pressure

It is vital that we keep up the pressure prior to the meeting 22 September – so if you have not already done so, register your feelings on the enterprise bargaining negotiations by sending an email to the QBC board and CEO at www.qnu.org.au/respectnursingvalues

It is also crucial that QBC employees support the campaign by attending workplace meetings on enterprise bargaining – we hope to see you at the next one!

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