1990’S THE LOST DECADE The 1990s is largely remembered as the decade ANF members in the public and private sector lost a large number of conditions that drove many out of the industry and left the WA health system struggling to find nurses and midwives by the year 2000. It was the decade where the term “trade off” was increasingly used by governments and private sector employers alike when responding to wage claims by ANF members. That is, they would say if you want a pay rise then you need to trade-off conditions to pay for it. In November 1998, ANF members elected a new State Secretary who had a plan to recover these lost conditions in the new millennium with carefully structured media and industrial campaigns.
Some of the losses during this decade included: 1990 – Qualification allowance lost 1991 – Hourly on call rate lost 1991 – Senior Nurses excluded from overtime payments 1994 – RN’s and midwives lose automatic entitlement to 7 weeks annual leave with many members having their annual leave reduced by up to three weeks with the creation of the new category of “continuous shift worker” and the exclusion or many part time staff from pro-rata leave 1994 – Public Holidays – if you were part time and not a continuous shift worker, then you were not entitled to any public holiday leave unless you actually worked the public holiday 1992 to 1998 – ADOs for full time staff was lost at various at various public hospitals throughout the decade as hospitals moved to introduce shorter shifts where 70 hours worked over 10 days became the new normal for nurses entering the workforce particularly graduates. And in private hospitals they were lost altogether 1998 – ADOs lost for all part timers – and when the part time staff lost their ADOs many also lost 5% of their working hours 1998 – RN’s and Midwives lose penalties on sick leave 1998 – as the nursing shortage starts to bite, public hospitals decide pay out public holidays rather than allowing nurses to take them as leave Paid Maternity leave did not exist throughout the entire 1990s Rural gratuities did not exist throughout the entire 1990s Nursing career structure decimated with Clinical Nurses, Clinical Midwives, Nursing and Midwifery Educators significantly reduced in numbers.
Next up… the 20 year recovery… SPECIAL LIFT OUT June-July 2022 western nurse |
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