Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians at the Royal Hobart Hospital have stopped work in the latest escalation of a bitter pay dispute with the Tasmanian government.
Workers, represented by the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU), say they are protesting a proposed pay cut.
“Pharmacists are fighting a proposed $10,000 pay cut that will occur if the government refuses to incorporate their hard-won market allowance into their base salary,” the union claims.
“These are the professionals who ensure patients receive safe, accurate medication every single day and they should not be asked to go backwards.”
The union said its members were after “respect, fairness and a wages and conditions package that recognises the vital work they do”.
“No one should have to take a pay cut to keep doing the job they love,” the union said.
The stoppage comes with 15 days remaining until a March 31 deadline to reach a new agreement.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said workers who reached a deal by then would receive back pay to December 1, but warned there would be no back pay without an agreement.
Rockliff said the government’s offer was consistent with deals already struck with police, firefighters, doctors and school facility attendants.
Asked whether pharmacists had been ignored, the premier said the government was “engaging with everyone that is willing to sit down and negotiate in good faith”.
He pointed to agreements reached three years ago as evidence the process could work.
Labor MP Ella Haddad said workers taking industrial action had been “pushed to the brink”. “No union takes industrial action lightly,” she said.
“No worker goes to work hoping that industrial action is going to be on their work plan for that day.”
“We stand side by side with those public sector unions in the industrial action that they are taking.”
HACSU has flagged further industrial action if a deal is not reached, with other unions – including the Australian Education Union (AEU) and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) – also locked in unresolved negotiations.
