Given the intransigence of the government, and their refusal to make ANY offers at all to our members since we began negotiations 5 months ago, the HSU EBA Committee has concluded that the Government wants to disadvantage patients by forcing members to take industrial action.

After much deliberation the following resolution was passed by the HSU #4 EBA Committee on Wednesday 23 January 2008:

1. We recommend that members at the following sites conduct rolling 24 hour stoppages between 5/2 and 14/2 according to the following schedule.

2. Should there have been no significant progress made in negotiations by 14 February 2008 we call for a 24 hour stoppage at all of the above sites on 15 February 2008.

3. This campaign will continue until the Government makes a reasonable offer in settlement of the Union’s claims.

4. In order to ensure that patient safety is not compromised, we recommend that members provide skeleton staffing to deal with emergencies during all stoppages.

5. We seek agreement from the Government that such members will be fully paid.
Accumulated work to be done in overtime only. Members are advised to obtain prior approval before commencing overtime.

On the 12 and 13 December 2008 we contacted the office of Daniel Andrews, Minister for Health, and spoke to his advisers about members’ frustrations with a process that had not even resulted in an offer from his department or the VHIA. We followed up with an Email as follows:

From: _Rosemary Kelly
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 4:13 PM
To: ' This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '
Subject: Medical Scientists Industrial Campaign Against Brumby Government

The following motion was passed by a meeting of members yesterday, angry at your government's intransigence

Health Services Union
Victoria #4 Branch
Meeting of members 12 December 2007
Victorian Trades Hall Council

This meeting condemns the Victorian Government for its failure to negotiate in good faith with our Union for our next enterprise agreement. The current agreement expired on 1 October 2007 and the Government has obstructed all our attempts to negotiate a resolution of this dispute.

As a sign of good faith, and as an initial step towards achieving the framework for an agreement, we demand that the Government immediately agree to salary increases that are at least equivalent to those given to nurses, with the same operative dates. Further we seek an agreed timetable for negotiation of our career structure and conditions matters with a view to their finalisation by 15 January 2008.

Unless this demand is met by Friday 14 December 2007 we resolve to commence a campaign of industrial action.

We have not had a response from the Minister. He knows our phone number …

This dispute can be readily resolved if the government makes us an offer of

• Salary increase equivalent to nurses
• Same operative date as nurses (1 October 2007)
• Agreed process for dealing with classifications and other matters

Now is the time to contact your local Member of the Victorian parliament to express your concerns, write a letter to the paper or ring talkback radio. For contact details go to the website. (login first)

Meetings of members are being held this week and next week at those sites where industrial action is scheduled to take place.  We will be putting FAQs re the dispute and industrial action on the website.

Should members feel bullied and intimidated by management at any time in relation to the dispute, please ring the office immediately. We believe that most hospital management are sympathetic to our cause – no one can understand why our members should receive any less than nurses. Nor can we.