Strike action at Sir Charles Gairdner and Royal Perth Hospitals

Friday 25 Jul 2014

Thank you to the hundreds of members at Sir Charles Gairdner and Royal Perth Hospitals who took strike action in July to protest over the State Government's refusal to offer a fair wage increase.

This was the first time in 13 years our members took industrial action of this scale.

The stoppages took place after the State Government refused to give more than 18,000 workers in the public health system a pay rise equal to that received by doctors, nurses and hospital support staff this year.

The State Government is offering a pay rise of 2.75 per cent to HSUWA members, while the doctors, nurses and support staff they work alongside will receive pay rises of about 4 per cent this year.

Meanwhile, politicians were recently granted a pay rise of 3.8 per cent this year.

HSUWA Secretary Dan Hill said our members were angry that the government had refused to budge from its initial offer and they felt completely devalued.

Emergency services were not affected and work essential for patient safety was maintained.

Work bans already in place will continue. These include bans on revenue-raising activities, like encouraging the use of private insurance in public hospitals, as well as processing PBS claims and data entry for activity-based funding.

Thank you once again to everyone who participated and is continuing to support our 2014 EBA Campaign.