Every week 90% of MSAV, VPA and AHP members give their employers in excess of an additional 2.5 hours per week of unpaid time.

This data was revealed in the recent survey of members.

The survey also demonstrated that (apart from salary matters), workloads, staffing and the expectation that members would work additional unpaid hours were the matters of most concern.

Unpaid work has a number of insidious effects on members and health services. The most obvious and important of these is that members are not paid for work they perform even though our industrial agreement says you must be.

Consider the significance of unpaid work in light of the Government’s wages policy that it is aggressively enforcing in the current negotiations:

• Unpaid work represents a current saving of approximately $20 million per year. That’s $20 million worth of salaries not paid.

MSAV, VPA and AHP currently contribute 4 times more in unpaid work than the Government is offering in wage increases.

The other significant effects of members performing unpaid work relate to funding and restructuring.

Governments have started to ignore any obligation to maintain sufficient public funding to guarantee service delivery in health services while those service delivery benchmarks are maintained through escalating levels of unpaid work. The Government’s view is why fund for additional staff if the work gets done by fewer.

Probably the most harmful impact of unpaid work relates to the never ending cycles of restructuring across all types of health services. Hospital executives have been able to largely ignore any responsibility to maintain staffing at a level that reasonably matches workload simply because they assume our members will take up ever increasing workloads in an environment of reduced staff and expanding services. For the past decade our members, in good faith, have done exactly that.

While the State Government, on the one hand, demands in these negotiations that we concede “quantifiable” productivity benefits for wage increases, it refuses to recognise there has been any benefit or savings from unpaid work.

This contract arrangement appears to be spiralling into a crisis. Here are a few key indicators:

• Staff turnover – scientists leaving and not being replaced
• Workloads are reaching a critical stage – meal breaks and rest breaks hardly able to be taken
• Rosters are getting worse and worse with positions simply taken away.
• Scientists rostered to work out of their discipline.
• Test turnaround times – blowing out
• Major tests not being done on site
• Training & teaching arrangements broken down
• Antiquated equipment and software that creates excessive work and problems.

Western Health in the meantime appears to want to pretend, at least publicly, that ‘all’s good’.

It’s Going to be a Long & Hard Campaign

The first meeting with the VHIA (Victorian Hospitals Industrial Association) and the Department of Health took place last Friday 20 January 2012.

We were advised that:

• The employers would be serving the Union with an employer log “soon”. Under the government’s IR policy the employers are supposed to have developed their counter log 6 months before the expiry of the agreement.
• The government’s wages policy is

• 2.5% pa wage increase (even though this is less than the rate of inflation)
• Any increase above 2.5% must be funded by increased productivity through ‘bankable savings’
• No retrospectivity

The last point is particularly galling as the delays in bargaining have all been on the employer side – and our Agreement expired on 31 December 2011.

Future weekly bargaining meetings are scheduled.

A general meeting of members will be held on Wednesday 8 February 2012 at 62 Lygon Street to discuss future strategies for bargaining, including industrial action if necessary. Now is the time to get involved in the campaign, and to ensure your colleagues are all members of the Union, as only Union members may take industrial action. Workplace meetings are being planned. We will advise you of the date, time and place of meetings as soon as possible.

To view the Log of Claims, supplementary items and names of the EBA Negotiating Team go to Documents -> Campaigns -> Public Sector 2012 (login first)

There has been some confusion about the negotiations for psychologists employed in areas directly funded by the Mental Health Branch of the Department of Health.

This has arisen because HSU#2 Branch (HACSU) is now bargaining for allied health professionals such as social workers and occupational therapists employed in mental health under the Psychiatric Services Agreement, to the exclusion of HSU East (which covers the former HSU#3 Branch Health Professionals).

The VPA through HSU#4 (our Branch) will continue to represent and bargain for psychologists employed in all public health services, including area mental health services and state-wide services. We will be bargaining jointly with HACSU for psychologists employed at Forensicare.

In previous public sector bargaining rounds the negotiations over rates of pay and classification structure for psychologists have taken place in bargaining for the renewal of the Medical Scientists, Pharmacists and Psychologists public sector EBA by our Union. Any conditions particular to mental health and common to all classifications in mental health have been negotiated by HACSU under the Psychiatric Services Agreement and flowed across into our Agreement (for example, CATT on call allowance).

We are in discussions with HACSU regarding the current round of bargaining.

Please contact the office if you are experiencing any problems at your workplace over this matter.

Renewal of the Public Sector Agreement

Update

The Public Sector Log of Claims which has been served on employing health services was discussed at the meeting of members which was held on Wednesday 14 December 2011. There was a good representation of all our disciples including medical scientists, medical physicists, perfusionists, dietitians and psychologists.

A few suggested amendments to the Log of Claims have been received including the possibility of implementing a 9 day fortnight by agreement, and the provision of mobile telephones when required to be oncall.

To view the Log of Claims go to Documents -> Campaigns -> Public Sector 2012 (login first)

A number of issues around the process of bargaining were discussed at the meeting, and possible forms that industrial action might take, should that be necessary.

A summary will be available on the website after the office reopens in January 2012.

We have contacted the health services’ nominated bargaining representative the Victorian Hospitals’ Industrial Association (VHIA) seeking to meet to schedule dates and times for negotiations.

As yet we have had no response.

At this stage we anticipate convening a members’ meeting in early February 2012 to discuss progress (or lack thereof) in negotiations, and to provide feedback to members.

Meanwhile the Bailleau government is continuing its hardline approach to negotiations with the ANF, including wanting to replace registered nurses with nursing assistants, introducing split shifts and refusing to move from the policy of a 2.5% pa wage increase, which is less than the rate of inflation.

As a consequence many ANF members are considering leaving the public health system. For more details go to the ANF website:

http://www.anfvic.asn.au/

We are aware of a number of public health services which are refusing to reclassify members under the new classification structures, notwithstanding that the classification criteria are clearly being met. Please contact the office when we reopen in January 2012 if this applies to you. We will be taking up these issues with individual health services, and if necessary, will take reclassification disputes which fail to be resolved to Fair Work Australia

We wish members and their families a safe and happy holiday season.