Nurses are paying more than $115 a fortnight to park near the Royal Hobart Hospital and those who cannot afford it are parking at the Domain and walking alone to their cars late at night, the state’s nursing union says.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) says shifts often end at 10pm or 11pm and sometimes later when overtime runs over, leaving staff exposed in poorly lit and isolated areas.
The union has written to Premier Jeremy Rockliff seeking action on parking, fuel costs and secure bike storage for shift workers it says are being squeezed by the cost of living.
ANMF Tasmanian branch secretary Emily Shepherd said the $115 figure applied to a 0.84 full-time equivalent shift worker, a common roster fraction in nursing.
“This places nurses and midwives at considerable risk walking to their cars late at night with limited visibility and in an isolated position,” Shepherd said.
“This is unsafe and places those that are caring for our communities, in an extremely vulnerable position and shows a distinct duty of care by the Tasmanian government for this critical workforce.”
Shepherd said the state government’s free public transport scheme had failed to support shift workers because buses did not run at shift start and finish times.
The union says regional services around Burnie are also unreliable.
Some nurses who switched to cycling to save money have since had bikes and equipment stolen from the hospital, the union says.
“While placing a roof on the RHH bike shelter is a start, more needs to be done to ensure that these nurses and midwives have a fully secure area to store their bikes and equipment, when they are riding to work,” Shepherd said.
The ANMF is seeking secure bike shelters, subsidised or capped staff parking across the state and fuel allowances for shift workers who cannot use free public transport.
Asked about the proposals at an Agfest press conference on Friday, Rockliff would not commit to either measure.
“I really welcome good faith negotiations with our unions representing hardworking employees, whether that be our firefighters, our police, our teachers, our facility attendants in schools, our doctors or indeed our nurses and allied health professionals,” he said.
“When it comes to the negotiations with the nurses’ union, in this case the AMMF, all that will be part of the conditions.”
“We are always open to good faith negotiations.”
The union was due to meet Health Minister Bridget Archer on Friday.
