South Australian doctors set to walk off the job on June 25 over pay dispute

Elective surgeries are being called off and doctors are set to walk off the job after pay rise talks stalled – with the government’s chief negotiator on holidays.

Elective surgery is being cancelled as the health system buckles under demand and it now faces the prospect of a doctors’ strike as pay negotiations stall.

Doctors stress a strike was a last resort and any industrial action would try to minimise impact on patients but said their “dedication to duty is being exploited”.

An hour-long stop work meeting will be held on June 25 as the SA Salaried Medical Officers Association updates members on a push for a 10 per cent pay increase per year for three years.

It comes as a memo to Central Adelaide Local Health Network staff orders them to cancel category three and non-urgent surgery due to pressure on EDs, which also notes intensive care units at the RAH and QEH are at capacity.

SASMOA chief industrial officer Bernadette Mulholland told The Advertiser it is eight months since negotiations opened but there has been minimal progress.

“We requested a meeting with the Premier to see if we could accelerate discussions and at that meeting on May 19 we proposed a four-week intensive period of negotiations with their best negotiators, which we hoped would result in a proposal we could take to our members on June 25,” she said.

SASMOA Chief Industrial Officer Bernadette Mulholland says the union is seeking a pay increase in line with those interstate. Picture: Tom Huntley

However, with little progress – and the government’s chief negotiator on holidays – SASMOA will press ahead with its stop-work meeting, which may disrupt elective surgery and outpatients appointments. SA Health says contingency plans are in place to minimise impact on patients.

“We are still ready to sit down and nut out a deal which won’t leave our junior doctors at the bottom of the national pay scale and will redress the real pay cuts and workload issues we have had since Covid, but having something ready to take to our members on June 25 now seems increasingly unlikely,” Ms Mulholland said. “The government doesn’t seem to have any sense of urgency.”

Protest action may include wearing badges and T-shirts, and restricting unrostered and unpaid work expected by administrators.

“The last resort would be strike action, but that is what has happened recently in the UK, New Zealand and New South Wales,” Ms Mulholland said.

“Doctors are always really clear that patient care comes first and we will make sure any impact to patients is minimised, but there sometimes comes a point where that dedication to duty is exploited by employers and a point has to be made.”

Originally published as South Australian doctors set to walk off the job on June 25 over pay dispute