Nurses and midwives seek pay and conditions certainty as election hovers over negotiations

Published: 31 January 2012

Strong pay gains must be maintained & safe nurse-to-patient ratios identified and implemented in every care setting

The Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) has stepped up negotiations with State Government officials today, in an attempt to secure some pay and working conditions certainty for nurses and midwives ahead of the looming State election.

The current nurses and midwives agreement, EB7, is due to expire on 31 March 2012 – a week after the 24 March State election. Intensive negotiations for a replacement agreement have been going since October last year and they resumed again today, and will continue tomorrow, to try and reach an agreement.

QNU secretary, Beth Mohle, said there was always a chance negotiations would conflict with the 2012 State election, but that is now confirmed with the Premier’s announcement of a 24 March election.

“In an ideal world you would have an agreement finalised before any election and, in addition to an intensive negotiation schedule late last year, six days of negotiations were set aside between now and mid-February to try and achieve that. However, if an agreement, which protects and builds on the important gains made for nurses and midwives in recent years, cannot be achieved in that time then the QNU is seeking a commitment from all parties that they will work for such an outcome if they are elected to government.

“Any government that doesn’t work for such an outcome can expect a vigorous campaign from QNU members across the State, whatever the outcome of the election.

“Irrespective of who wins, national health reforms are forcing significant changes to the way health services are delivered in Queensland. To ensure these reforms work nurses and midwives, who are the largest occupational group, must be valued and supported through a positive workplace agreement and improved workplace culture – including greater budget delegation and authority for nurses and midwives in unit and facility management positions.

“Unfortunately, Queensland Health is still having trouble attracting nurses and midwives in a number of specialist clinical areas and to particular geographic locations. Queensland Health is also opening major new health facilities, particularly in the south-east corner, in the next few years.

“These will require extra nurses and midwives, in the context of an ongoing shortage in some areas. So the pressure is building.

“On the other hand workforce turnover at Queensland Health is at low levels. This is reducing the number of vacancies for new graduates, who could be lost to nursing if they cannot find suitable employment. This is a dangerous scenario, which, if not addressed, will further reduce the number of available nurses and midwives.

“Queensland Health’s own Statewide clinical-workforce projections forecast a substantial increase in demand for nurses and midwives in the years ahead. This new workplace agreement for nurses and midwives is vital to creating the conditions that allow us to meet that demand. So we must get it right and all political parties must commit to getting it right.

Pay

“In recent years the Beattie and Bligh governments have agreed to lift Queensland nurses and midwives from amongst the lowest paid in the country to amongst the highest. Pay rises in the new agreement must maintain that strong national position and ensure Queensland Health is the employer of choice for nurses and midwives.

“The pay scales for Nurse/Midwifery Unit Managers and other senior nurses should also be corrected to bring them into line with comparable health professionals. This will overcome a major injustice currently experienced by nurses and midwives.

“In EB8 we also want many of the error rectification and management processes developed during the recent payroll problems continued, so Queensland Health’s legal obligation to pay its employees correctly each fortnight is complied with.

Workloads and safe patient care

“Safe, quality patient care is the core business of Queensland Health. This cannot be achieved if nurses and midwives are run off their feet and have insufficient time to spend with each patient.

“That is why better workloads management is one of the major items the QNU is pursuing in these EB8 negotiations. We have a good, flexible system for managing workloads, but it is not being implemented, as it should be, in many units and facilities. Nurses and midwives have had enough of being mucked around like this.

“All too often the views of Nurse/Midwife Unit Managers, who intimately know the resourcing needs of their units, are over-ridden by non-clinical business managers and this is untenable. Appropriate accountability measures are essential to ensure budget integrity, but safe, good quality care is paramount. Nurses and midwives in management positions must have the necessary authority to ensure they have sufficient nurses and midwives to deliver the service required. Currently they have responsibility, but insufficient authority. This must change.

“We are also insisting that Queensland Health urgently implement its policy of calculating and publishing, in each ward and unit, the minimum nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios required for that ward or unit. The ward/unit then must be staffed to that level, and with the right skills mix. If it can’t be then services have to be reduced or prioritised to ensure safe care is being delivered.

“The current, agreed workload management tool provides Nurse/Midwife Unit Managers sufficient flexibility when the patient profile changes. It must not be used by Queensland Health to avoid its responsibility to provide safe workloads for both patients and staff. The QNU will be taking a very strong stand on this during the life of EB8.

Classification structures

“In EB8 we also want an improved classification structure, which provides greater access for advancement. This helps retain experienced nurses in important clinical roles. We also want a separate midwifery classification structure, which mirrors the nursing structure while acknowledging the changing nature of midwifery careers.

Rural and remote incentives and resource boom pressures

“Rural and remote incentives for Queensland nurses and midwives have basically been frozen for many years and it is time that was fixed. We have raised this issue repeatedly in past EB negotiations, but Queensland Health would not budge.

“The financial component has now lost a lot of value and the number of locations eligible for the incentive package needs to be expanded. There are just too many rural and remote areas struggling to attract nurses and midwives. This is unacceptable, as it threatens the very availability of basic health services to many Queensland people. That is a serious breach of the nation’s responsibilities to those people.

“EB8 also needs to address the growing pressure on many rural health services because of the resources boom. In many mining towns there is a shortage of affordable accommodation for nurses and midwives.

“For example, the 2011 Bankwest Key-worker Housing Affordability Report found regions such as Belyando and Broadsound, which include Moranbah, Dysart and Middlemount, were amongst the least affordable in Queensland for nurses, midwives and other key service workers. The house-price-to-earnings ratio in these areas is over seven for nurses and midwives, which matches the anecdotal evidence given to QNU officials by nurses and midwives in these areas. This is a problem that must be addressed or it will only get worse as industries such as LNG keep growing.

Greater authority for nurses and midwives

“With the national health reforms, which have driven the recent announcement to break up Queensland Health corporate office, there also needs to be greater financial authority granted to senior nurses such as Directors of Nursing and Nurse/Midwifery Unit Managers.

“They know how many nurses and midwives they need to provide safe, quality care and they need to be allowed to make more of those decisions at the local level. Obviously there needs to be parameters and a service profile. But once that is finalised nursing and midwifery management should be allowed to get on with the job without someone always looking over their shoulder.

“This will increase the safety and quality of care and also help develop a more positive workplace culture, which allows for greater problem solving and creativity at the local level. Nurses and midwives are the bulk of the health workforce and they know what they are doing. It is only common sense that they are trusted more and this common sense should become common practice.

“So we call on the Queensland Government to help us, in the coming weeks, develop a new workplace agreement for Queensland Health nurses and midwives, which incorporates these positive solutions to the issues facing our hospitals and other health services.

Campbell Newman, the LNP and nurse wages

“Finally, QNU members are interested in hearing Campbell Newman’s take on all this. Everyone knows the Liberal Party and National Party traditions on workplace relations. They are the parties of WorkChoices. They are the parties in NSW that have now, without announcing it prior to the last NSW election, deprived nurses and midwives of the right to have wages and conditions disputes with the State Government arbitrated by the independent umpire – the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

“They are the parties in Victoria, which are currently attacking the campaign by that State’s nurses and midwives to protect safer nurse-to-patient ratios.

“They are the parties that, when last in government in Queensland under Rob Borbidge and Joan Sheldon, gave us the unpopular Queensland Workplace Agreements (QWAs) – the precursors to John Howard’s pay-cutting AWAs.

“Queensland nurses and midwives will be watching the workplace policies of the major parties carefully during the forthcoming State election campaign. Will Mr Newman follow his NSW colleague and, if elected, undermine the powers of Queensland’s independent workplace umpire? Will he follow his Victoria Liberal colleague and try to undermine safe nursing and midwifery workloads?

“Comments about the recent Queensland Health payroll disaster will not suffice as an answer. The payroll issue is an administrative and information technology issue and, as unacceptable and stressful as it is, it is very different to a deliberate political policy to remove the right of nurses and midwives to bargain collectively and to access the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission if agreement can’t be reached on future pay rises and working conditions.

“Because that is what John Howard’s WorkChoices did to many private sector and aged care nurses and midwives and what the NSW Liberals and Nationals have now done to public hospital nurses and midwives in that State. What are the LNP’s plans for Queensland workplace relations? What is the LNP’s vision for the future of our public health system?” Ms Mohle said.