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Issue No. 265 | 27 May 2005 |
Hit and Myth
Interview: Fortress NSW Unions: Fashions Afield Industrial: Pay Dirt Politics: Infrastructure Blues History: Big Day Out International: Making History Economics: The Fear Factor Review: The Robots Revolt Poetry: The Corporation's Power
Victims Champ Joins Resistance Usual Suspects Lead Cheer Squad TAFE Teaches A Lesson On Winning
The Soapbox The Locker Room Parliament
One Hell Of A Job US Fan Mail
Labor Council of NSW |
News Howard Chases Nurses
Their "reasonable workloads" clause, won by a three year campaign, has been credited with starting to turn around shortages that had pitched the public health system into crisis.
Anne O'Connor, a registered nurse at St George Hospital, warned federal government moves to take over state IR systems and strip awards back to 16 allowable matters would seriously disadvantage colleagues and impact on the public. "Nursing is a high-pressure job but our award has got better all the time to reflect that," she said. "Our (state) award provides all our conditions. To lose our conditions would be frightening and it would mean losing nurses. The conditions we have won are very much worth fighting for." O'Connor specified a range of entitlements, besides "reasonable workloads" that appeared to be on the line. She pointed out that Howard's slimmed-down awards made no provisions for existing entitlements to uniform allowance, leave, overtime or parental leave. NSW Nurses Association president, Coral Levett, said nurses faced losing more than 30 award clauses if Howard got his way. She described their reasonable workloads breakthrough as crucial to nursing's future. "We know many nurses have returned to the workforce because of that clause," Levett said. "To lose it, would mean nurses exiting again. "It has taken nurses many years to improve our award. We have more than 50 clauses, setting out our wages and conditions. To strip them back to 16 would destroy the Nurses Award." Levett pledged nurses would be on the resistance's frontline. "We will continue to fight for the Nurses Award. Basically, we will fight every inch of the way," she said.
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