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Autumn 2006

Health Professionals agreement finalised

Health Professionals Campaign Overview: How did they do it? What can we learn from their campaign?

With the recent Health Professionals campaign concluded, and a new industrial agreement registered that vastly improves conditions, it is timely to look at how it all unfolded. How did Health Professionals achieve such progressive outcomes?

Attracting health professional graduates is vital to a well-functioning health system. Before the recent Health Professionals campaign, Tasmanian health professionals were amongst the lowest paid in Australia.

The key success of the campaign was the significant involvement of grass roots members and delegates, who in cooperation with their professional bodies, were able to garner significant community support.

The campaign was also a triumph for joint-campaigns, that is, campaigns where several unions work together in the pursuit of a single goal.

Unions established decision-making structures where health professionals determined their own priorities and actions. This ensured that decisions were achievable and represented the views of health professional members. The innovative use of technology was also crucial to the success of the campaign. E-mail networks were set up early in the campaign, ensuring rapid contact with all members. This meant that regular updates could be sent out and events and meetings could be more easily organised. Quick and efficient communication also meant that attempts by the Government to undermine the campaign could be responded to rapidly.

Paid radio advertising was also utilised to great effect to gain community support for the Health Professionals campaign.

Overall, the Health Professionals campaign demonstrated a new way of running union campaigns. It was a grass roots campaign, with members driving the campaign and being very involved with the way in which it was run. It was also a campaign where new campaigning methods were used, among these was the use of the paid media to influence public opinion, which in turn had the effect of pressuring the Government.

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