Nurses & Midwives Reject UCH Enterprise Agreement
Published: 22 December 2022
Nurses and midwives have overwhelmingly rejected UnitingCare Health’s (UCH) proposed Enterprise Agreement (EA), with the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union (QNMU) saying the inadequate offer clearly failed to address the need for fair wages and conditions and the ongoing health and safety concerns of frontline nurses working in UCH hospitals across the State.
The UCH Agreement expired in 2021, with UCH giving a 1.5% administrative increase in 2021 and another earlier this year, compared to a 2.5% increase paid to Queensland Health (QH) public sector nurses and midwives. The delayed UCH offer did not recognise back-pay owed to nurses and midwives to achieve wage parity and skyrocketing cost-of-living pressures, in-line with the QH pay rise.
QNMU Assistant Secretary Kate Veach declared that in a ballot conducted from 16-21 December, 84% of UCH nurses and midwives overwhemingly voted against the EA put forward by UCH management.
Ms Veach said today: “QNMU members’ response to the EA was loud and clear – UCH’s offer was totally unacceptable and fell way short of what frontline nurses and midwives need and deserve. The vote showed that nurses and midwives had serious concerns about accepting the UCH offer because it failed to deliver fair and reasonable pay improvements, including back-pay and cost-of-living adjustments and provide clear, enforceable conditions.”
“Dangerously, it also didn’t address nurses and and midwives’ ongoing concerns about the urgent need to rectify understaffing and unsafe workloads, through the introduction of nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios at UCH hospitals.”
“This is a real wake-up call for UCH management – they must act in good faith and return with an EA which shows nurses and midwives the respect and dignity they deserve, so they can continue providing safe, quality care to Queenslanders in UCH’s private hospitals.”
“UCH is on notice – many nurses and midwives have already told us that they are now contemplating leaving UCH to find jobs where wages and conditions are better than what UCH has offered and will also be looking at taking industrial action if a better offer is not forthcoming.”
“Whilst the QNMU is disappointed that UCH has treated our members with such disrespect, rest assured, members will continue to fight for better pay and conditions, safe staff to patient ratios and to improve the health and well-being of nurses and midwives and the people they care for every day.”
QNMU media inquiries please call: 0411 254 390.