HUNDREDS of hospital support workers in Perth have stopped work to protest potential job losses when the new Fiona Stanley Hospital opens.
UNITED Voice WA secretary Carolyn Smith said non-clinical support staff including cleaners, caterers and orderlies had not been told what would happen to their jobs when the Health Department moved services to the Serco-run Fiona Stanley Hospital.
For the past 18 months, staff had been kept in the dark about job security, as hospitals began to shut down services, Ms Smith said. “Staff don’t know where the numbers are being cut, in what department and they don’t know where there are alternative jobs,” Ms Smith told reporters on Tuesday. “The government has had two years to do this. They’ve known it was coming, they either don’t know or they don’t care.” Cleaner Brenda Regan, who has worked at Royal Perth Hospital for 12 years, said the lack of information left many in limbo. “We need to keep the roof over our head,” Ms Regan said. “I’ve got no guarantee. Am I going to have the same situation as everybody else?”