Thousands of public sector workers across southern Tasmania walked off the job on Thursday – the third day of rolling strikes over what unions have called an insulting pay offer from the state government.
The Hobart rally brought together workers from education, healthcare and other public services, following similar action in the state’s north and north-west earlier in the week.
Employees have rejected the government’s offer of a 3% pay rise with no changes to working conditions and ate demanding wage parity with mainland counterparts and safer workplaces.
Teacher Jake, who has been in the profession for a decade, said pay wasn’t the main issue.
“When we voted on what mattered, what we wanted to take to the government in our negotiations, pay was not highly ranked,” he said.
“What matters to us is our working conditions and our working conditions are not safe.”
Jake said he regularly works until 9pm and has been assaulted four times in the past three years.
He warned that experienced staff were leaving the profession because the job had become unsustainable.
“The government knows how hard your job is. The government knows how to fix it. And the issue is they don’t care enough to do that because they know it costs money,” he said.
Healthcare workers voiced similar frustrations about understaffing and pay disparity with the mainland.
Pharmacist Lauren said Tasmania was losing qualified staff to better-paid interstate positions.
“We train them here and then they leave because we cannot compete with the salary and the conditions that the hospitals on the mainland offer,” she said.
She said one department had just three sonographers doing the work of seven.
“None of us here walk off our jobs lightly. We don’t take this lightly. Because we care about the people that we serve. And we care about the community,” she said.
“But we have walked out today because we know that if we don’t fight, we won’t be able to continue to serve the community and to do the best job that we can.”
United Workers Union organiser Amy Brumby told the crowd that workers would hand-deliver a pledge to the premier, calling for a fair wage offer.
Union members voted unanimously to continue industrial action until the government puts forward what they consider a fair deal.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff, speaking on Wednesday, said “common sense” needed to prevail given the state’s current one-year offer and budget pressures.
“We have a very reasonable offer on the table of a 3% pay rise, so we can then work together sensibly on a wage negotiation, including conditions, moving forward,” he said.
