News / Health
Nurses strike adds to Coburg hospital’s woes
Growing anger over collapse of hospital owner Healthscope
Mark Phillips
NURSES at the John Fawkner Private Hospital in Coburg will walk off the job for almost four hours on Thursday amid growing staff anger since owner Healthscope was placed in receivership in May.
Members of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation at John Fawkner will join hundreds of colleagues from other Healthscope hospitals for a rally in Parkville on Thursday afternoon. They will stop work from 12.45pm to 4.15pm.
It is the first time Healthscope nurses have ever taken such action and a sign of their fury at the healthcare group which has collapsed under a $1.6 billion debt burden and is looking for a buyer who will bail it out.
‘Anne’*, a registered nurse who has worked at John Fawkner for about a decade, said staff were anxious about their future and angry that they were being urged to take a pay cut in a new enterprise bargaining agreement.
“There’s certainly been some people with an attitude of, well, we didn’t create this debt, so why is our benefit going to be used to fix it?” Anne said.
The hospital employs about 300 nurses and about 85% of them are union members.
The trigger for the industrial action is a potential restructuring of Healthscope as a not-for-profit entity to make it more attractive to a future buyer, but which workers say would result in a significant cut to their pay.
Under the proposal, as employees of a not-for-profit, workers would be eligible for salary packaging which reduces their income tax liability by offering part of their pay as an untaxed fringe benefit.
But Healthscope is seeking to negotiate a new enterprise bargaining agreement so that the vast majority of the tax benefit would go to the company, not the workers.
If the EBA was varied the way management wants, Healthscope’s 15,000-plus workers could receive salary packaging benefits worth up to $11,660 per year, but would be forced to return 90% of this amount – approximately $10,494 – directly back to Healthscope.
The company would use this money to pay down corporate debt.
Unions have opposed the plan which they say is unfair and would set a dangerous precedent.
The ANMF says that under Healthscope’s proposal, pay for nurses at its hospitals in Victoria would fall behind those employed in the public healthcare system and at major private hospitals like St Vincent’s.
Anne said while a not-for-profit model was attractive, Healthscope was asking nurses to trade off too much.
“I believe it [a not-for-profit entity] is the best option but I am opposed to having 90% potentially of my benefits taken by Healthscope to help service their debt and finance operations,” said Anne.
“And at the end of the day, my main aim with what I’m doing is to get a fair wage and conditions proposal, get an EBA that guarantees safe staffing, that guarantees comparable wages to my peers and colleagues at other hospitals across Melbourne.”
She said staff had a heightened sense of anxiety after the hospital had been through several owners in recent years.
“People are unsure of their future.
“National and state level managers come regularly to talk to the staff, and they’ve been directly asked multiple times if we agree to this, will it help keep sites open … and they won’t give any assurances.
“It’s always ‘We can’t make those promises’. So that instils a strong sense of anxiety in the staff, worrying about their future, worrying about their financial futures, impacts on their family.”
Thursday’s stopwork is an escalation of industrial action that began on October 28. Previous actions have included bans on certain types of non-clinical work.
Read more:
In a statement provided to Brunswick Voice, Healthscope said there had been a positive response from the majority of its employees to the salary packaging proposal and the industrial action taken by nurses was disappointing.
In voting completed across 19 of the 20 EBAs at its hospitals, there has been an 83% result in favour of introducing salary packaging, the company said.
“Our number one priority is to provide our patients with the best possible care, and we have plans in place to ensure continued safe care at our hospitals while protected industrial action is taking place,” Healthscope said.
“We’ve put forward a fair, and competitive wages offer with improved conditions. We’ve listened carefully to our staff and the ANMF and consulted with them throughout the EBA process to date.”
The company said under the salary packaging proposal, an initial 40% share would go to employees who voluntarily chose to take it up.
John Fawkner Private Hospital in Moreland Road is one 12 hospitals operated by Healthscope in Victoria.
Originally called Sacred Heart Hospital, it has operated on the same site since 1939.
Following an extensive redevelopment which was finished in 2019, it is a fully-accredited 186 bed major acute medical and surgical hospital, including a 24 hour emergency department supported by a five bed intensive care unit, 12 bed critical care complex and 24 hour on-site medical cover.
With about 19,000 staff, parent company Healthscope is Australia’s second-largest private hospital operator and has been owned by North American private equity firm Brookfield since 2019.
With spiralling debts, the company was placed in the hands of receivers McGrathNicol on May 26.
* ‘Anne’s’ name has been changed at her request.
If you liked this story, have you thought about supporting our work?
We are an independent, volunteer-run hyperlocal news organisation owned and run by the people in your community. With your support, we can continue to produce unique and valuable local journalism for Brunswick, Coburg and the inner north of Melbourne.
