Medical scientists employed in Victoria's public hospitals began industrial action for a new wages deal with a 24-hour strike at hospitals in Melbourne's Southern Health region on February 5.
Medical scientists incorporate a range of health professionals, such as psychologists, dieticians, pharmacists, pathologists and audiologists. They are covered by the Medical Scientists Association of Victoria (MSAV) and the Victorian Psychologists Association Inc, both component associations of the Health Services Union (HSU) Victoria No. 4 Branch with the Association of Hospital Pharmacists.
On the morning of February 6, union members at Melbourne's St Vincent's Health (incorporating St Vincent's Hospital, St George's Hospital and St Vincent's Mental Health Services) walked off the job to march on State Parliament.
Victorian premier John Brumby refused to meet the striking workers to discuss the dispute, and only a small delegation of scientists were allowed to enter the Legislative Assembly to watch proceedings.
The strike actions at Southern Health and St Vincent's Health were the first in a series of rolling stoppages planned by union members for metropolitan and regional hospitals over a period of seven days. Members overwhelmingly supported taking strike action instead of industrial bans seeing as, under Work Choices, their pay would be docked anyway.
In January, members voted in a secret ballot to take protected strike action at eight sites. The high return of 67% in the ballot indicated members' resolve to fight for improved conditions.
According to the MSAV, the Brumby government had refused to negotiate or meet with the union about the terms and conditions of a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA). The MSAV's main demands are for an increase in pay equivalent to nurses, the same operative date of October 1 2007 and a process for dealing with classification matters and other claims.
MSAV secretary Rosemary Kelly rejected the Victorian Hospitals' Industrial Association's claim that scientists had been offered the same deal as nurses at a conciliation conference in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on Wednesday February 6 where the two parties failed to reach agreement.
"If we had been offered the same deal as the nurses we wouldn't be on strike now. Members reluctantly decided to take strike action, feeling they had no choice due to the state government's outright opposition to our very reasonable demands", Kelly told Green Left Weekly. "The last time we faced this kind of intransigence and we had to take industrial action was in 1997 under Jeff Kennett — a Liberal government!"
"The longer this dispute drags on the clearer it is to our members that they will have to escalate industrial action to get any movement from the Brumby government", she said.
The MSAV is proposing to follow up the rolling stoppages with a statewide 24-hour strike, rally and march on February 15 if progress has not been made by February 14.
The MSAV encourages people to join the rally on February 15 and call radio talkback shows to demonstrate support for the strike.