Key services in the city could grind to a halt in the coming months as two unions call for better pay.
While local members of The Services Union (TSU) and the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union (QNMU) are currently prohibited from striking, both are in negotiations with governments for new pay deals.
QNMU members at Logan Hospital are calling on the Queensland government to honour its pre-election promise to maintain nation-leading wages and conditions for nurses and midwives in public hospitals.
More than 50 submissions of dissatisfaction and distress have been made to the QNMU by its members who work at Logan Hospital.
Some say their pay barely covers the cost of groceries and petrol, while others claim poor working conditions are impacting the safety of patients.
From the submissions, staff fatigue appears high and morale low.
The nurses and midwives, some working sick or in storage rooms, say they “deserve better” for the care they provide.
“It’s extremely hard to pay for living costs and also have a work life balance,” one registered nurse working at the hospital said.
“Just sad to see so many skilled nurses leave the field as the pay is so low.
“Low to a point you can’t even get a mortgage these days.”
The QNMU secretary Sarah Beaman said nation-leading pay and conditions were essential to “retain and attract highly skilled and sought-after nurses, midwives and other valuable frontline staff state-wide”.
She said nurses and midwives did not take industrial action lightly, and were negotiating in “good faith”.
“However, dependent on the state government’s response, all protected actions will be considered if the LNP’s written and repeated commitment to public nurses, midwives and patients is not honoured,” Ms Beaman said.
“To provide the care Queenslanders need, we need a well-staffed public health system. To ensure a well-staffed public health system, we need wages and conditions designed to recruit, retain and respect our nurses and midwives.
“We are advancing next steps as a matter of urgency.”
Meanwhile, librarians, call centre operators and other TSU members are negotiating a pay increase from Logan City Council.
Around 1000 TSU members working in Brisbane took industrial action last week after the local council, accused of “playing games”, refused to meet the union’s pay demands.
Logan council has until April to come to an agreement.
TSU organiser Jason Shepherd said strike action was always a last resort, and he was optimistic for a new deal in Logan.
“I’m really happy with the way it’s going. This thing for us was to get Logan City Council to the table as early as we could because their previous negotiations have dragged out for a long time past the expiry date… and they were poor outcomes as well,” Mr Shepherd said.
He said Logan had fallen “dramatically behind” other councils in regards to wages.
According to the union, council has already rejected requests like a four-day workweek with no pay reduction, a 25% payout of personal leave upon leaving council (whether leaving by resignation, termination, or retirement) and ensuring work-from-home requests cannot be unreasonably refused.
While a “decent” wage increase remains unaddressed, council has agreed to increasing domestic violence leave from 10 days to 20 days, bereavement leave from two days to five days, enhanced paid parental leave, and allowing personal leave to be used for medical appointments.
“Negotiations are going good, and I think Logan City Council realises that they need to improve the agreement to attract and retain staff,” Mr Shepherd said.
Logan council didn’t reveal whether libraries would remain open if strike action occurred, but a spokesperson did say the negotiations were processing well.
“Logan City Council’s current Certified Agreement (CA) expires on April 22, 2025. Protected industrial action is prohibited while the current agreement is still operational,” the council spokesperson said.
“Negotiations with unions are progressing well.
“If a new agreement is not made by the expiry date, the existing CA will continue to be used for staff remuneration and other working conditions.
“Unions would also have the right to take industrial action in accordance with the Industrial Relations Act 2016.”
