After only two bargaining meetings (one she was present at) your CEO Kath Skinner informed us via email recently that she’d be putting your agreement out to vote this Thursday 21 December.
We wrote to Kath asking again for her to sit down with us and talk about the outstanding issues you’ve told us are important like wages and your 200% Sunday penalties. Instead of talking to your union, she left us with radio silence.
Running the vote for THC’s agreement in the middle of your protected action ballot is a deliberate move to muddy the waters, and we need to get as many of you as we can to have your say by voting YES to action, and saying NO to their deal.
Your protected action ballot opened this morning at 9am and closes on Friday 22 December at 1pm.
While it’s good that they’ve moved on the mental health leave, the reality is it was only because you had to fight for it for them to even consider it – congratulations for speaking up.
We’ve also spoken to a lot of you who are still concerned about THC’s ‘pay rises’, which have been confusing to say the least.
To be clear, the 27% dumped onto AINs (who for the most part aren’t employed by the Clinic) and the beefing up RN Level 1s at the lower end of the years of service pay points looks good on paper, but it means that many of you who are at the longer serving end of Level 1, and anyone who’s an EN or Level 2 in reality will only receive about 3.5-4% in the first year, with even lower increments in the next two that follow.
This is well below the current cost of living, and it also fails to reward and retain those long serving staff who have specialised skills and knowledge in mental health nursing.
You’ve also told us that it’s unfair that your claim for 200% shift penalties on Sundays has been left unanswered, especially since general staff at The Clinic and many nurses at other private hospitals already get this (as they should).
To say that THC’s conduct throughout this process has been underhanded would be an understatement – and these tactics are all attempts to confuse and mislead workers.
Now it’s up to you to have your say. Our advice to members is this:
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Vote YES to all questions on our protected industrial action ballot on Wednesday 20 December
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Vote NO to Kath Skinner’s dodgy deal when it goes out to vote on Thursday 21 December
By voting YES to HACSU’s protected action and NO to THC’s dodgy deal we’ll be able to keep fighting for what you deserve. Whatever you decide we’ll be there to back you and help you plan where we go to next.