Mater attempts to gag 2000-plus unpaid staff #getseriousMater #qldpol
MATER Hospital management have attempted to gag more than 2000 unpaid public hospital nurses and midwives.
Around 20 nurses and midwives will today wear electrical tape gags to highlight the abusive nature of Mater working conditions and represent staff unable to attend a democratic stop-work meeting as a result of Mater legal proceedings.
The meeting was to have occurred this morning.
Queensland Nurses’ Union (QNU) Secretary Beth Mohle said Mater management, who owe nurses and midwives millions of dollars in pay, recently took legal action to stop the planned industrial action.
Ms Mohle said Mater management engaged lawyers from Ashurst Australia which represented Qantas during the 2011 industrial dispute and culminated in CEO Alan Joyce locking out workers and grounding the QANTAS fleet.
She said legal fees related to blocking industrial action were believed to be in the six figures – money which could have gone a long way towards paying staff. Attempts to hold a stop-work meeting on March 14 were also blocked by legal action.
“I have never experienced anything like Mater management’s mistreatment of their staff,’’ Ms Mohle said.
“Mater public nurses and midwives have not received a pay increase for almost three years and this constitutes financial harassment in our view.
“This has now escalated to intimidation via legal action, with top end of town barristers being flown in from Sydney to run Mater management’s case.
“The QNU has twice planned stop-work meetings approved by the Fair Work Commission. However at the eleventh hour the Mater’s legal team has employed inventive legal wrangling to tie legitimate industrial action up in red tape.
“The Mater has effectively gagged nurses and midwives and they are suffering stress and anxiety as a result of ongoing mistreatment.
“I call on Mater management to stop playing games, to stop paying high priced lawyers and to simply pay their staff.’’
In 2012 the State Government paid Mater management millions of dollars in tax payer funds to cover nurse and midwife pay increases.
Mater received the funds but has refused to pay them on. The state’s 32 000 other public health nurses and midwives all received the payments.
By 1 April Mater nurses and midwives pay will be 9% behind their Queensland Health counterparts.
Queensland taxpayers have funded Mater pay increases backdated to 1 April 2012.
The QNU is advised the total value of the state government contract with the Mater for 2012-13 and 2013-14 financial years exceeds $1 billion (more than $517,000,000 for 2012/13 and $537,000,000 for 2013/14).
Ms Mohle said the QNU would not let the matter rest.
QNU legal representatives will again appear in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) this morning at 10am.
Source: Queensland Nurses’ Union