4 April 2006
Here we go - Major Catholic hospital tries to use Howard’s IR laws to avoid Queensland pay case and hold wages down QIRC to hold special hearing tomorrow over attempts by St Vincent’s Toowoomba to avoid State Industrial Commission
The Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) has been advised the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) will hold a special sitting tomorrow morning (5 April) to deal with attempts by St Vincent’s Catholic hospital in Toowoomba to pull out of an arbitration case over pay and conditions, because it claims it is now covered by the Federal Government’s new industrial relations laws.
Details of tomorrow’s QIRC hearing
Date: Wednesday, 5 April 2006
Time: 9.00am
Venue: QIRC, Level 13, 66 Eagle St Brisbane
Before Commissioner Brian Blades
This is believed to be one of the first jurisdictional arguments provoked by the Howard Government’s attempt to override State industrial relations laws, in respect of so-called trading corporations, and create a national industrial relations system, which is mostly based on various forms of individual contracts and the restriction of collective bargaining.
The QIRC is currently part way through an arbitration case aimed at settling an ongoing dispute at St Vincent’s over a new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) for about 400 nurses at the hospital. The previous St Vincent’s Toowoomba EBA expired on 31 December 2004.
St Vincent’s nurses are currently well behind public hospital nurses in terms of pay and conditions. If the current pay proposal put forward by St Vincent’s, now under the auspices of John Howard’s industrial relations laws, goes ahead then standard ward nurses (Level 1 Year 8) at St Vincent’s will be nearly $100.00 a week behind their public hospital colleagues in October this year. They are currently over $60.00 per week behind nurses at the Toowoomba Base Hospital.
Media inquiries: Gay Hawksworth 0419-726 678
John Moran 07-3366 9010; 0410-603 278
Editors please note: More information on this developing issue will follow.
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