By Grant Coleman
PERTH — After striking for 96 hours, hospital worker members of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union have won a 5% pay rise and are now entering into arbitration.
Five hundred orderlies, caterers and patient care assistants from Perth public hospitals voted to go on strike at a stop-work meeting on November 9. The meeting was called by the LHMWU after the Metropolitan Health Service refused to meet the demand for a 10% pay increase with no trade-offs.
The union has been pushing for the pay increase for 18 months. When it became apparent that the MHS had no intention of agreeing, the union decided on stronger action. Around-the-clock pickets were established at Fremantle and Royal Perth hospitals on Tuesday, blocking all goods that were not urgently needed to ensure the safety of patients.
Most trucks attempting to deliver goods respected the picket line; their actions were met with cheers from the striking workers. Those who broke the picket line did not receive such a warm reception.
The WA Trades and Labor Council endorsed the picket line, and the Transport Workers Union pledged that none of its members would attempt to cross. Other unions, including the Maritime Union of Australia and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, covered for LHMWU picketers when they left to attend union meetings.
The planned 48-hour picket soon became a 96-hour picket, after union members rejected the MHS's offer of an immediate 3% pay increase, with another 7% to be decided by arbitration.
The pickets placed a huge strain on Perth's public hospitals, and the MHS was forced to reassess its offer to the striking workers.
At a union meeting on the morning of November 13, 96 hours after the strike began, the members were informed of the details of the new offer: an initial pay rise of $20 a week, just over 5%, with the remainder of the 10% to be decided through arbitration. A lump sum payment of $250 was to be made to all full-time staff. The offer was accepted by more than two-thirds of union members attending.
The pay increase is not conditional on any trade-offs. This was of particular concern to members, because of nurses' experience in their recent arbitration, in which conditions were sacrificed for an increase in pay. The arbitration is supposed to be resolved by December 17, and it has been agreed that no new matters will be introduced before this time.