Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) members in Canberra Hospital's Medical Imaging Department will tomorrow be taking part in planned industrial action after year long negotiations failed to meet workers expectations.
Allied Health professionals brought claims to the bargaining table that would specifically address the attraction and retention issues that are threatening the future of public health in the ACT.
The ACT Government and Canberra Health Services have so far failed to engage with these concerns.
The Medical Imaging service, much like the broader health service in Canberra, has continued to lose staff as they are unable to compete with the pay and conditions of public health services in other jurisdictions.
It has reached a point where the Department is completely reliant on staff doing a significant amount of overtime to meet the needs of Canberrans.
Radiographers in Medical Imaging will undertake a 48-hour ban on overtime, starting at 12.01am on the 11th October.
The CPSU is calling on the ACT Government and Canberra Health Services to work with the union to address the attraction and retention crisis by improving the pay and conditions of Allied Health Professionals in the ACT.
Quotes attributable to Brooke Muscat, CPSU National President:
"The pay and conditions of Allied Health professionals in the ACT is significantly behind what is on offer in other jurisdictions.
"As a result, it is difficult to attract and retain staff and current employees are paying the price.
"CPSU members in Canberra Hospital's Medical Imaging Department have seen their colleagues burn out, leave the ACT, or leave the health service altogether.
"If this issue is left unaddressed, we'll soon enough see patients left without adequate public health care in the ACT.
"The ACT Government has a decision to make - continue to lose high quality, caring and experienced staff to other states, or fight for them to stay here in the ACT by coming to the table on pay and conditions.
"Canberrans need and deserve high quality, local care, but right now the ACT Government is letting that slip through their fingers.
