The introduction of paid time for NSWNMA PHS branch officials will help to keep members informed about vital employment and workplace issues.

Gosford Hospital NSWNMA delegate Deearne Dobson thinks the public health system  interim  pay  and conditions offer was “a good win for everybody”.

“It gets us a 3 per cent interim increase backdated to July 1, while we wait for the result of our special case at the Industrial Relations Commission, where we are seeking a 35 per cent increase over three years,” Deearne said.

“We also get a guaranteed increase in night shift penalty rates, which will make a significant difference to people such as me as I do 50 per cent night shifts.”

Deearne said all four NSWNMA branches on the Central Coast voted to accept the interim offer.

“The vote at Gosford Hospital branch was close while the others – Mental Health, Wyong and Woy Woy Hospitals – voted overwhelmingly in favour.

“I don’t think anyone is 100 per cent happy with the offer the government has put forward, but I think members who voted to accept it considered the information the union put out and decided they wanted the money now.

“Some who voted No may have misunderstood the situation and believed the interim offer was the final deal.

“Others didn’t want to accept the offer believing it just wasn’t enough.

“Our union was happy to act on our vote either way, but ‘accept the offer’ is what the members have voted for.

“Two people told me they voted No ‘because we’re worth so much more’. They had not understood that our special case at the IRC is still going ahead.

20 PER CENT NIGHT PENALTY RATES

“There was also some anger that we were accepting a 20 per cent night penalty rate when some other states get more.

“Yes, some other states do get a higher penalty rate but we are  dealing with NSW politicians not WA politicians.

“We went to the IRC in 2009 with a similar case and got no increase to night penalty rates.”

The interim offer includes an expansion of union rights such as eight hours paid time every two months for branch officials to distribute NSWNMA materials and talk to employees.

Deearne said this would give her and other branch officials more time to meet staff and explain issues face to face, rather than relying solely on written material.

“Most people are really time poor these days,” she said. “Some feel they don’t have the time to read a two-page document even if it directly affects them.

“At present, I can talk to my colleagues that I work alongside but it’s hard for me to get to other areas of the hospital to talk to people.

“Like other branch officials I go in to work on my days off to put up flyers and hand pamphlets around, or I do it before and after my shift.

“Paid time for branch officials will allow us to go around the floor and inform and educate people, which will be invaluable in the future.”

MACARTHUR BRANCH VOTED YES

At Macarthur branch, which covers Campbelltown and Camden hospitals in South Western Sydney Local Health District, almost 70 per cent of members voted to accept the interim offer.

Branch president Nichole Flegg said members saw the increase in night shift penalty rates as an important part of the government’s offer, “once the history of previous claims and the advice from the NSWNMA legal team was explained to members”.

“Most members do some degree of night shift and they were happy with the shift loading going up for the first time since 1972,” she said.

“We would have liked the 30 per cent we asked for but we weren’t guaranteed to get any penalty increase at all out of the IRC, considering the history of our previous claims.”

Nichole said increased union rights such as paid time for branch officials to do union work was a welcome feature of the offer.

“I explained to members that this will allow us branch officials to spend more time explaining issues and getting feedback from them.

“It will be protected time that’s actually going to allow us to get around and see everybody and deal with issues, instead of having to do it in our own time on breaks or days off.

“People understood the value of that improvement, especially when I explained that branch officials normally have to do all union work in our own time.

“I think the protected time being allocated will lead to a better informed and more active branch.”

Nichole said members welcomed the improvements to rostering in the interim offer.

“ The ‘no night shift before annual leave’ provision was a big selling point.

“It has been a common practice for some to be put on night shift the day before they are due to start their annual leave, which means they are actually working into their annual leave.”

Nursing wages must increase – minister

Health Minister Ryan Park has said the state government understands it needs to increase the wages of nurses and midwives. He added that the Industrial Relations Commission’s examination of the gender pay gap is critical to this.

“I want to say this about the interim pay offer and I want to be very explicit about this: it’s an interim pay offer. The government in no way, shape or form is doing some victory lap or patting itself on the back,” Mr Park told the NSWNMA annual conference in October.

“We are not doing that – we understand it is an interim offer. We understand very, very clearly, we need to increase your wages.

“We understand the work that the independent Industrial Relations Commission is doing – particularly from my perspective around the gender pay gap – is absolutely critical.

“So, by no means are you going to see me, [Mental Health] Minister [Rose] Jackson, the premier, or the treasurer do some form of public victory lap about where we are up to at the moment.”