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Winter 2004

Ahead of the Mainland

Fresh from a groundbreaking wages and conditions agreement in the public sector – an agreement which has set the pace Australia-wide - HACSU members have now broken through in a number of other areas, creating a surge of new members.

HACSU members have secured a string of private sector nursing agreements with wage increases of around 6-7% per annum, a new agreement for the ambulance service with gains not seen for a decade in terms of wages and staffing, and finally a terrific agreement for the State's radiation therapists.

According to HACSU State Secretary, Chris Brown, 2004 will go down as a watershed year for HACSU members and Tasmania.

"It's been a terrific year," Chris said. "Partly this is to do with the recovery of the Island's economy but a lot of it has to do with getting more unionised, more union members and being more organised at the workplace level."

"Our wage outcomes have outstripped the mainland in many areas."

"We have been able to save services such as radiation therapy, when it looked like these services would go offshore, forcing Tasmanians to travel to the mainland for things such as cancer treatment."

"As a result of our wins, groups of workers are contacting the union office who have never been properly unionised, saying they want to go down the union bargaining track."

"The message has really got through that if you are in a union, if you have high union density and you have a worksite committee, if you are organised, then you have more bargaining power and the gains will be greater."

Chris Brown said, however, aged care continued to be a problem area.

"Because of the funding shortages and Howard not looking at this area as a priority, the money is not there to win proper wage increases."

"There will be ongoing disputes in this area as employers try to continually restructure and force workers to work harder for less."

"Members will have to take a stand together, be well unionised and not accept any bullying or harassment."

"It also means members in aged care must vote out the Howard Government in the next election."