Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) members in Canberra Health Services' Medical Imaging Department have commenced three weeks of ongoing industrial action where workers will refuse to take on overtime.
The action will have an extensive impact on the Department which is heavily reliant on staff doing overtime to plug the gaps caused by recruitment and retention issues.
This will be the second round of industrial action taken by CHS Medical Imaging staff.
This action started at 12.01am on Friday 27 October and will end at 11.59pm Saturday 18 November 2023.
Workers are concerned that if the pay and conditions of Allied Health professionals in the ACT doesn't catch up and compete with what is on offer in other jurisdictions, then people will continue to leave and Canberrans won't be able to access vital public health services locally.
Negotiations have been underway for nearly eighteen months but have so far fallen short in delivering improvements to pay and conditions that would see critical allied health workers stay in Canberra.
Quotes attributable to Brooke Muscat, CPSU National President:
"If the Government refuses to come to the table with significant improvements to the pay and conditions of Allied Health Workers here in Canberra, they won't just be letting down those workers. They'll be letting down the thousands of Canberrans who rely on these local services every day.
"Allied Health workers are leaving Canberra because as soon as they take up a job elsewhere, they are earning more money and working less hours.
"The ACT Government needs to step up to the plate and fight to keep our health professionals here in Canberra.
"CPSU members are taking Industrial Action because they know that they deserve better, and that Canberrans deserve better.
"They are telling Canberra Health Services and the ACT Government what they need to stay local and deliver safe services here in Canberra, and it is time for them to be heard.
