South Australian Government stalls on nurses' claims

Bob Briton

Public sector members of the SA Branch of the Australian Nursing 
Federation(ANF) are now well into their latest enterprise 
bargaining period and the signs are there that the struggle with 
the State Government is set to take off over a range of long-
overdue changes.

The enterprise bargaining agreement campaign was given a major 
media launch on March 22 and hopes were high that an improved 
agreement could reached with relatively little obstruction. 
Nurses in SA have widespread sympathy in the community for the 
problems facing them at work and the ANF's claims go to the root 
causes of these difficulties.

The main claims are aimed at increasing recruitment and improving 
the retention rates for nurses and midwives. Central to this is 
the creation of family-friendly work environments.

Nurses are demanding more flexibility in rosters, and initiatives 
like access to breast-feeding rooms and increased paid maternity, 
paternity and adoption leave. They are also seeking free or 
subsidised childcare for nurses working in rural or remote areas. 
The ANF has identified a need for greater assistance for 
professional development, refresher and re-entry courses, and 
clinical supervision programs.

These steps to ease the conflict between working and family life 
and to open up the career path for nurses are modest and 
constructive. The nurses also want enforceable minimum staffing 
levels and a 22 percent pay rise over three years. This figure 
includes the 10 percent needed to bring nurses' pay in SA into 
line with their interstate colleagues.

However, up until last week, the government had not given a 
formal response to the log of claims. ANF Senior Industrial 
Officer Rob Bonner was exercising restraint when he spoke with 
The Guardian recently, describing meetings between the union and 
Government as "not going particularly well."

The Government is now proposing a 15 percent pay rise but has 
refused to address the other major issues in the nurses' claim. 
Industrial Relations Minister Michael Wright says he will 
continue to work with the ANF to achieve the "best outcome for 
nurses, patients and all South Australians".

SA Nurses appear to have had a gut full of high-sounding phrases. 
They were due to meet earlier this week to consider industrial 
action to back up their claims. ANF State Secretary Lee Thomas 
told the media that nurses might start walking off the job from 
Friday. A lot depends on the success of their campaign, including 
the capacity to deliver of the state's health system.