Workers want a fair day's payroll

QUEENSLAND Health payroll employees rallied across the state yesterday, claiming the Bligh Government had ignored the impact the ongoing pay debacle was having on their work and family lives.

pay

QUEENSLAND Health payroll employees rallied across the state yesterday, claiming the Bligh Government had ignored the impact the ongoing pay debacle was having on their work and family lives.

The staff are demanding Queensland Health upgrade their positions to reflect the heavy workload and increased skill levels required under the flawed new pay system.

They also want temporary staff to be made permanent.

Payroll staff at Chermside, north of Brisbane, were among hundreds who rallied throughout Queensland in their lunch hours.

Payroll worker Karlie Pugh said they felt overworked and underpaid, particularly since the introduction of the new system 15 months ago.

"We work big hours, and our personal lives have been affected," she said.

"They pay such a small amount of money."

But Queensland Health deputy director-general John Cairns said the pay and employment conditions of payroll staff had been independently assessed and determined appropriate.

A petition to Health Minister Geoff Wilson will request he meet union delegates to resolve the dispute.

Australian Services Union branch secretary Julie Bignell said the workers were angry that the extra work they had put in during the payroll crisis had gone unrecognised.

"Queensland Health payroll workers have had to skill up above their job classification and pay bracket as they deal with co-workers' chronic pay problems and a troubled pay system," she said.

"A lot of them are still working massive overtime."

Auditor-General Glenn Poole said in an independent report this week the new payroll model required one payroll employee per 90 Queensland Health staff, compared with one to 160 under the old system.