THE Health Services Union of Western Australia (HSUWA) has called off all industrial action in the state’s public hospitals after the government agreed to go to arbitration to resolve a pay dispute.
THE union said the two parties had had several conferences before the WA Industrial Relations Commission after the government refused to negotiate. This had prompted members to stop work at Sir Charles Gairdner and Royal Perth Hospitals.
HSUWA secretary Dan Hill said the Commission had made several recommendations that had been accepted by both parties, including giving health workers an interim pay increase of 2.75 per cent backdated to July 1. Mr Hill said arbitration would determine a wage outcome for this year between the state government’s inflation-capped wages policy of 2.75 per cent and the union’s claim of four per cent. “This will be an important case, given that this is the first time the WA Industrial Relations Commission will be required by law to take into account the government’s wages policy in arbitration,” he said. Members had been working-to-rule since June 1 but that would cease immediately, Mr Hill said, adding it could be several weeks before the parties were back before the Commission.