WA health workers strike for better pay
Five hundred Health Services Union (HSUWA) members walked off the job on 15 July at Sir Charles Gairdner public hospital, demanding a 4 percent pay rise and improved job security. Two days later hundreds walked out at Royal Perth hospital.
Health services workers – those in radiology, pathology, and other allied health services in WA public hospitals – have been offered an insulting 2.75 percent pay increase. The offer came just weeks after WA state politicians granted themselves 3.8 percent and in the midst of government cuts and outsourcing.
There are also issues with the soon to be opened Fiona Stanley Hospital. The notorious multinational company Serco – known in Australia for its appalling record running refugee detention centres – has been given the contract to run the majority of the non-clinical services at the public hospital.
In the UK, where it has served a similar role in several hospitals, the company has sacked workers, seriously degraded pay and conditions and overseen hygiene practice violations.
At the roadside demonstration at Sir Charles Gairdner, HSUWA members highlighted these worries. Signs pointing out the hypocrisy of politicians granting themselves a larger pay rise than they were offering health workers were held alongside signs comparing Liberal premier Colin Barnett to the villainous Joffrey from Game of Thrones.
Workers from the state pathology laboratory PathWest described the disparity between senior pathologists – who play a role akin to upper-echelon management and only infrequently deign to involve themselves in the often dangerous work of the scientists and technicians below them – driving to the hospital each morning in Mercedes while the majority of lab staff slog it on public transport.
They also described what they saw to be at stake in the increasing casualisation and outsourcing in WA public hospitals. One worker remarked: “I know what it’s like in the private sector [pathology] labs … If Barnett had his way we’d all be poking shit for the Award or less.” Casual private sector pathology assistants can be on as little as $17 an hour in WA.
The stoppages were a move in the right direction, but short-lived. Actions planned for Bentley, Armadale and Fremantle were cancelled after union secretary Dan Hill agreed to take the case before the WA Industrial Relations Commission.
With the Barnett government on the attack, orienting to arbitration courts rather than strike action is a recipe for defeat. The threat of strike action by the nurses’ union last year won a 14 percent pay rise over three years.
