AMA dispute escalates
FREE INSIDE YOUR WEEKEND ADDY Barwon Health in alleged EBA breaches
DOCTORS, including locally employed medicos, are taking a dispute claiming hospitals are breaching their obligations as employers to the Fair Work Commission.
Thirty-seven of the state’s 83 public health services, including Barwon Health, are listed as respondents in the claim.
Doctors are concerned the terms of their enterprise agreement are being breached, the Australian ation says.
Issues could include improperly paid overtime and junior doctors not undergoing their allocated training hours, AMA Victoria vice-president Dr Roderick McRae said.
Dr McRae said increasing pressure was negatively affecting doctors’ mental health.
He did not specify what breaches had taken place in Geelong, but did confirm docMedical Associtors believe issues relating to Barwon Health fulfilling its enterprise agreement obligations were occurring.
The AMA’s Victorian branch on Wednesday night voted to pursue action through the Fair Work Commission.
Dr McRae said the 37 health services involved in the action were all signatories to an enterprise agreement applicable to the state’s larger health services.
“We’re just asking them to meet the EA,” he said.
Barwon Health spokeswoman Kate Bibby confirmed Barwon Health was included in the matter, but declined to comment further.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos yesterday said her understanding was doctors were “not talking about imposing industrial action at this stage”.
“They are looking at taking some claims forward to the commission, so that’s really a matter for them,” she said.
When questioned about budgets Ms Mikakos said the State Government had already provided “additional funding” for the doctors and nurses enterprise agreements “but of course we continue to monitor any pressure that our hospitals are facing”.
The dispute comes after fears emerged some Victorian hospitals were facing mass redundancies due to funding shortfalls.
Some health services have formally asked the Health Department to issue them a Letter of Comfort — a legal assurance that the Government will provide financial support for at least the next year — needed to satisfy the Auditor-General that debtplagued hospitals can continue operating.
Barwon Health has not requested a Letter of Comfort, CEO Frances Diver said.