4 May 2007

Private nurses “work choice” ignored by employer
Toowong Private Hospital nurses want a union agreement
But under Howard’s laws that means nothing

Nurses at Toowong Private Hospital have overwhelmingly rejected attempts by their employer to impose a sub-standard, non-union workplace agreement on nursing staff, the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) said today.

However, their employer continues to ignore their “work choice” and, under John Howard’s pro-employer industrial relations laws, there is very little they or their union representatives can do about it other than apply some public pressure.

Up until March last year Queensland private hospital nurses, including employees of Toowong Private, were covered by a State award and had access to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission to settle disputes such as this.

The vote, which was held in late March, against the non-union agreement was 31 to three. On April 16 the nurses again wrote to the Toowong Private Hospital board requesting a union agreement. In response the board said it will not consider the issue of nurses’ wages again in this financial year.

QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said this is a textbook case of how people have lost their rights at work under these federal IR laws and a major reason there is a huge swing on against the Howard Government, especially here in Queensland.

“Toowong Private, which is a mental health facility owned by Kratzmann, is trying to force a sub-standard non-union agreement on its nurses. The nurses have resisted and will continue to resist all attempts to introduce a non-union agreement. However, at this stage the employer is still trying to take away the nurses’ right to a union collective agreement. So much for Howard’s new laws giving people ‘work choices’.

“This case is also further proof that these non-union instruments such as AWAs and non-union agreements aren’t being ‘taken up’ by employees. They are being taken up by employers and forced on to employees. That is why employees are turning away from this federal government in droves.

“This is confirmed by recent polling, by companies such as Newspoll and Galaxy, which is consistently showing Labor is between 14 and 20 per cent ahead of the Howard Government.

“None of this surprises me because nurses are very edgy about Howard’s unfair laws. We have had more people turning up to union meetings in the last 12 months than ever before and the main topic is these IR laws. As this Toowong Private Hospital case again shows, nurses have every reason to be edgy,” Ms Hawksworth said.

As well as denying the nurses their choice to be covered by a union agreement, the agreement proposed by Toowong Private Hospital would do such things as delay wages parity with the public sector, reduce overtime entitlements, reduce rostering protections, alter hours-of-work arrangements to the detriment of employees and reduce meal break payments.

End

Media inquiries:  Gay Hawksworth 0419-726 678
Gayle McCaul (industrial officer) 07-3840 1444; 0400-909 980
John Moran 07-3366 9010; 0410-603 278