Tasmania’s Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) is warning that nurses at a mental health clinic in Hobart are considering strike action due to a wage dispute.
The union claims that the Hobart clinic is hiring lawyers to obstruct their protests, including wearing badges and distributing flyers for wage increase above the current 3.5% minimum offered.
HACSU State Secretary Robbie Moore says the dispute has escalated beyond their intention and is calling for the employer to be more receptive to discussions rather than spending thousands on legal fees.
“Nurses here are paid less than nurses in the public system and less than nurses doing the same work in other states,” he said.
“Nurses here are just fighting to have similar conditions to the public sector – a decent annual wage increase that competes with the increases to the cost of living, and to have double time on Sunday, like most other health workers.”
But the clinic claims its pay offer would have left nurses between 2% and 14.5% better off compared to public sector peers.
“Despite this offer, in December 2023 the Health Services Union, Tasmanian Branch (HACSU) convinced their members to reject the offer and seek permission from the Fair Work Commission to take protected industrial action,” a spokesman said.
“The Hobart Clinic considers the safety and welfare of our patients to be of paramount importance and therefore we asked our nurses and HACSU not to engage patients about industrial relations matters.”
“We therefore sought an intervention from the Fair Work Commission to suspend or terminate the protected industrial action.”
The clinic employs around 100 staff, half of which are nurses.
