Stronger Together conference a success

On 15 June HP delegates held a successful conference to formulate a log of claims for the HP Stronger Together campaign that we can put forward to our employer.

The success of this campaign will depend on how many HP workers are active in their union. If you know a HP in Queensland Health who is not currently a member of their union, now is the perfect time to ask them to join! Send them to www.hpstrongertogether.com/join so we can ensure that all HPs stand strong together for a great collective bargaining outcome.

With the support of our delegates and members for the new log of claims, our campaign is growing in strength!

You can take a look at the log of claims by clicking here.

The log of claims was formulated after a series of meetings across Queensland Health, where Health Practitioners got together and decided what it was they wanted to achieve through a new collective bargaining agreement with the government.

After holding their meetings, delegates from the QPSU and LHMU got together to work out how to express members’ aspirations as a formal log of claims document.

The log reflects the “hot issues” that came out of this process:

• Finalisation of the HP EB1 process: Even though the HP EB (enterprise bargaining) process has delivered large wins for HPs across Queensland, there is a number of outstanding provisions from this agreement that have not been fully implemented by Queensland Health.
• Wages: Union members are seeking 4.5%, 4.0%, and 4.0% pay rises for the three years of the agreement, in line with other areas of the public sector.
• National Health reforms: Union members are calling from consultation from Queensland Health over implementing the national health reforms and for a guarantee that there will be no losses of working conditions or entitlements that arise out of the reforms.
• Employment security: Many members were very concerned about changes in facilities such as the Queensland Children’s Hospital and other such restructures often lead to uncertainty of employment for many workers. Ensuring that no workers are forced in to redundancy, there are conversion rights for temporary employees to permanent status and no contracting out are key claims in this round of bargaining.
• Workload management: Members are concerned to see improvements related to workload management and the work-life balance, to ensure that all HPs are able to enjoy their lives outside of work as well as delivering top quality services for Queenslanders.

There are many other points of concern that HP workers addressed in their log of claims, including professional development allowances and incentives, allowances for rural and remote areas and on-call allowances. Click here to see a full list check out the log of claims document

The next step is HP delegates holding workplace meetings to talk through the new log of claims and how we will progress the campaign. You can email hp@qpsu.org.au for details of meetings that may be happening in your area.