The doctors’ union claim their industrial action will be carried out in a manner that will not endanger the safety of any patient or any other person. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Members of the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation ACT (ASMOF) will escalate their industrial action this week, including a one-hour stoppage on Thursday (3 October) and threats of unspecified further bans.
The union representing Canberra Health Service (CHS) doctors began this bid to keep wages in pace with inflation at the end of last month, following their rejection of the ACT Government’s last offer.
Of the 58 per cent of ACT doctors who voted on the government’s offer, 86 per cent voted no.
According to the union branch’s president, Associate Professor Jeff Looi, this offer would have left ACT doctors up to 10 per cent worse off.
“In percentage terms, the ACT Government offer to doctors was the lowest wage offer across the ACT Public Sector,” said Professor Looi.
“It is not correct for the Minister [Rachel Stephen-Smith] to say the same offer was made to all public sector employees. In addition to higher percentage increases to wages, several occupational groupings also received additional measures that increased remuneration.
“We have seen this weekend the loss of yet another vital area of training for Canberra doctors, this time in orthopaedics, as a direct consequence of the ACT’s inability to recruit and retain senior medical staff, yet the ACT government continues to ignore that Canberra doctors are the second lowest paid in Australia.
“While that situation remains, we simply cannot fill the vacancies we have, let alone expand services to meet the growing health needs of Canberrans.”
Despite ASMOF members advising the ACT Government nearly two years ago of their problems with its offer, Dr Looi claims the Territory is now using the election period as an excuse not to address the issue.
“ASMOF has written to all of the major political groupings in the ACT election with a simple proposition: if elected, will you support funding wage increases for medical practitioners working in the ACT public health system that maintain wage levels in real terms and that remain competitive with comparative Australian jurisdictions?
“Unfortunately, to date, no political grouping has responded positively, meaning that the delivery of safe and appropriate health care for Canberrans will remain at risk.”
This latest round of action comes less than a fortnight after junior doctors reached a $31.5 million settlement in their class action with the ACT Government to be reimbursed for unpaid overtime.
It will allow around 2200 junior doctors employed in the ACT over the last eight years to receive repayments for their unpaid overtime. However, the settlement is still subject to approval by the Federal Court, which will be considered later this year.
Hayden Stephens & Associates and Gordon Legal filed the class action in November 2022, alleging Canberra Hospital and Calvary Health Care (now North Canberra Hospital) failed to pay doctors in training for their unrostered overtime.
The firms represented lead plaintiff Dr Ying Ying Tham, who said that court action was necessary to address junior doctors’ long-held concerns about hospitals’ failure to recognise all their working hours.
A Canberra Health Services spokesperson said CHS had investigated the matters raised by junior medical officers and worked collaboratively during the legal proceedings to come to a settlement that was fair and appropriate.
The law firms said that, subject to the final court approval, a process for assessing the claims of eligible current and former junior doctors will begin early next year.
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