Mental health nurses at the Royal Hobart Hospital stopped work for 30 minutes yesterday over an allowance for the violence they face on the job.
The Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) is seeking a 6.5% occupational violence allowance for nurses on the hospital’s mental health inpatient unit.
The union says the unit has the highest rate of patient violence towards staff in the Tasmanian public health system.
HACSU state secretary Robbie Moore said seven staff were off work after being injured in violent incidents. He said nursing staff were also leaving to work in other states.
“It just shows how dangerous the work that they’re doing is and that they should be properly remunerated for the complex work that they’re doing,” he said.
Moore said nurses in forensic settings such as Risdon Prison already received the allowance and mental health nurses faced the same challenges, often without the same infrastructure.
He said the nurses’ enterprise agreement expired on June 30 and after six months of bargaining the state government had not put a first offer to nurses or responded to any part of the union’s log of claims.
“There’s been over 70 hours at the negotiating table, which is just ridiculous,” he said.
Moore said the union did not know who in the government was making decisions and he questioned why Health Minister Bridget Archer or Treasurer Eric Abetz had not attended the talks.
He said the action would escalate from half an hour to an hour, two hours, eight hours and then full days if necessary.
Greens health spokesperson Cecily Rosol said in a statement the nurses should not have to resort to industrial action.
“The Liberals need to negotiate with nurses in good faith and ensure they receive the recognition they deserve for their services to the community,” she said.
A government spokesperson said the government was committed to continuing good faith negotiations with HACSU and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation for a new nursing and midwifery Agreement.
“We are continuing to work through the extensive log of claims,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said measures were put in place to manage disruption and maintain services once the department was notified of the industrial action.
