BY REBECCA MECKELBURG
BRISBANE — The current dispute between the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) and Premier Peter Beattie's Labor government (see article on page 2) is the latest in a series of industrial challenges facing the government since its re-election in 2001.
As negotiations with the QNU stalled last week, other health sector unions in dispute with the government over enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) have launched a campaign of stoppages and bans alongside the state's 16,000 nurses.
Queensland Council of Unions state president Grace Grace said that even if the nurses dispute is resolved quickly, the other 10 unions (representing 32,000 workers) involved in health sector EBA negotiations will continue their campaign.
By June 24, these unions had already lodged 200 notices of protected industrial action with the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission. Their demands include a 12% wage increase over two years. These health sector employees make up 70% of the health sector work force.
Many Queensland doctors will stop work or "take leave" as of July 1 due to dissatisfaction with the government's response to doctor's concerns over lack of adequate indemnity insurance provisions and massive jumps in insurance premiums.
These health sector disputes take place in the context of significant public support for the nurses' demands and their industrial action, reflected in comments reported by Brisbane's Courier Mail like, "they definitely deserve better pay and conditions", "the nurses work really hard" and nurses "work harder than doctors". This public support is in part due to growing public dissatisfaction with the Beattie government, as well as practical experience of the crisis in the public health system.
Many voters had expectations that this Labor government would deliver significant improvements in public sector services after years of spending cuts by the previous National Party government. Instead, what they have got was a continuation of the previous NP state government's neo-liberal economic policies, resulting in deepening crises in health, education and other public service delivery areas.
The government recently escalated its attacks on other public sector workers. In the current dispute between QBuild, the state government's commercialised public building building maintenance agency, and its blue-collar workers, the government was found to have taken "illegal" industrial action against QBuild workers by locking them out and relocating workers to other work sites.
On June 28, as the Queensland Public Sector Union announced thart it would hold stop work meetings this week in many regional centres to discuss the health sector EBA campaign, state industrial relations minister Gordon Nuttall made the clearest statement yet of the government's position: "We've seen it in the past with other governments down south who [sic] have given in to unreasonable claims and the outcome has been reduced services, job losses and a depressed economic climate. We're not going to fall into that trap."
The current escalation of industrial action by unions representing many of Queensland's public sector workers provides the opportunity for their unions to unite their campaigns. The potential is now there to reverse years of concessions and retreats by the union movement in Queensland.
From Green Left Weekly, July 3, 2002.
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