Tasmania’s Nursing union says trust in Rockliff government to deliver a decent pay deal is low

The nurses union says industrial action is a real possibility if the government doesn’t deliver a good pay deal for frontline health workers.

ANMF Secretary Emily Shepherd at the ANMF offices in Hobart. Picture: Linda Higginson

The nursing union says its members do not trust the government to deliver an honest pay deal and potential industrial action is on the cards if they don’t get one.

Negotiations for a new enterprise agreement with the state’s nursing workforce have stalled as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation seeks clarity from the government about the details of its current offer.

The union’s state secretary Emily Shepherd said nurses didn’t have a high level of trust in the government's offer.

“Our members are fearful that there was an intent there from the government to mislead them in relation to the wages proposal.

“Obviously, we’re certainly seeking the opportunity for government to put an offer to members that continues to value them and will enable us to be able to recruit and retain our existing workforce.

“I hope that it’s a miscommunication. I hope that government will continue to listen to our members as they have done at the negotiating table to date and that they will come back in a timely fashion with an offer we can put to our members that our members can feel confident will support them.

Shadow minister for Health, Mental Health and Wellbeing Anita Dow at the ANMF offices in Hobart with Labor leader Rebecca White. Picture: Linda Higginson

“Our members haven’t endorsed industrial action in terms of stop work meetings but certainly should the offer not meet their expectations, we would take their direction as to whether they wanted to move to stop work meetings that had previously been put on hold when we received the initial offer.

“So if we receive an offer in the very near future, that doesn’t meet members expectation, then certainly that will be back on the table.”

Labor health spokeswoman Anita Dow said nurses looked after Tasmanians, and the government should look after them.

“This government’s inability to negotiate a deal with nurses and midwives across Tasmania, that appropriately deals with the current pressures that they’re under and that looks properly at wages and conditions and offers a competitive offer to them, tells you a lot about this government – and that is that they don’t value nurses and midwives.

“And it also says a lot about their commitment to work closely with nurses midwives across Tasmania. They’re not doing that very well.

“We understand that they’re under considerable pressure in working long hours, lots of overtime, double shifts, and the detrimental impact that’s having on the mental health and well being of our nurses across the state and their ability to front up each shifts.

Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson said under a Labor government a decade ago, the nursing workforce had fallen.

“Labor sacked nurses, we’re employing them and we currently have a very productive negotiation underway for the next pay deal,” he said.

“Labor sacked nurses, we’ve employed them and we’ve growing our workforce and the new pay deal that we have productively working through at the moment is part of the long-term solution for better health in Tasmania.”