Nurses shafted by Olson-Liberal pact
Here’s an interesting report on Mark Olson’s decision to jump into bed with the Liberal Party:
[ACTU President Sharan] Burrow said she had tried to end the long-running dispute three months ago. On behalf of Mr McGinty, she offered the ANF a 15 per cent pay rise with a commitment to negotiate on conditions.
The deal offered by the Liberals is 14% and a commitment to negotiate. Mark Olson has taken his members backwards in order to support the Liberals. This, I hope, will be the end of his career as a union official.
In explaining why the ANF-Liberal deal is not the end of the world, I wrote:
This will be contrasted with Labor’s health promises, which have yet to be made. … Firm commitments to improved conditions, alongside a continued commitment to the AIRC’s 14.7% recommendation, would trump the Liberals’ lower pay offer and vague promise to negotiate.
It seems that this is exactly what the Government intends to do:
But Health Minister Jim McGinty told The Weekend Australian his Government intended to offer a superior package, a position backed by Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow.
“I think he (Mr Olson) may have jumped into bed with the Liberals too quickly,” Mr McGinty said. “We had worked out a package of conditions. It well and truly exceeds the $50 million deal.”
I’m looking forward to those announcements.
As I said in the comments to your previous post the previous EBA negotiated for Victorian nurses was negitiated successfully after 6 months.
Despite a week of strikes, the finer points of the agreement were hammered out between the two parties in an amicable fashion.
After my comments previously my questions are; 1. Why hasn’t WA nurses bypassed Olson or replaced him with another negotiator (there is provision to do this in the ANF constitution)? and 2. What is the ACTUAL sticking point to the negotiations? Surely not just wages?
Sounds to me Olson is not only shafting nurses, but the public as well. As for a spanner in the works? I severely doubt it, nurses are traditional labour voters.
Olsen is a slick operator, and the nurses have been hoodwinked by his bullshit manner.
Have you noticed that the number of protesters at public events is no more than a couple of hundred ???
Also, he’s muddied the waters in the media by bunching both Registered and enrolled nurses in the one basket, when in fact the EBA only covers registered nurses, who in my opinion don’t do the often menial tasks that enrolled nurses do. (I am speaking from experience, suffering from a spinal related disability since birth and have been in and out of hospitals from day 1), thus confusing the public into believing that EVERY nurse will benefit !!!!!
Unfortunatly this is as a direct result of registered nursing being moved to a tertiary based course, instead of a hospital based one and as a result, we are getting more classroom nurses who don’t get as much hands on experience, instead of the old hospital based system.
This I believe is why Nurses have falen for Olsen !!!!!!
If I remember correctly, the enrolled nurses are LHMWU.
Olsen is a megalomaniacal fuckwit, and it would not surprise me if he stuck to his Liberal deal regardless of what Dr G has to offer.
There was a story in Inside cover last year regarding Mr Olsen’s treatment of female staff in his office, suffice to say he’s not a well liked person even by his employees.
GT, you’re correct about him being a meglomaniacal fuckwit, and even his tactic of disassociating the ANF with Unions WA revealed his true colurs, he wants to turn the ANF into a poor man’s AMA.
also, Olsen has said in today’s west that they’re going to defy the electoral laws and campaign using their official title and don’t care if they sack the nurses.
Olsen makes Kevin Reynolds look like Mother Theresa.
Frank, I seriously find it hard to believe that University trained nurses are to blame, your pulling rabbits out of a hat with that one. Is it because Universities have a strong socialist background? Is that it? Give us more credit if it is. All university trained nurses have to compulsory attend clinical practice, which accounts for more than %75 of the course and during that time students nurses are not paid.
As for not doing menial tasks, ahem… where I work there is no enrolled nurses, so who else is going to do the menial tasks? What did you want us to do, change TV channels for you?
Enrolled nurses are traditionally employed in the long-term care side of nursing such as nursing homes and rehab centres and they are very good at what they do. I think your perception of nurses is pretty clouded by a bad experience or two you’ve had and that comes with being institutionalised and not getting your own way.
Olson backing libs is a deathnell for his own union - what a nitwit, didn’t anyone explain party politics to him before he took the job?
Those poor nurses, they always get the ‘poo-covered finger of the glove’, everytime.
If they keep getting treated the way they do, it won’t be long before no-one wants to become a nurse and they will have to offer better pay and more incentives just to recuit nursing students.
Heard Olsen on Sattler a few minutes ago, basically denying that he hasn’t directed ANF Members to vote Liberal.
Sattler predictably gave Olsen an easy time and didsn’t probe him (thereby proving that Sattler’s a lib).
mm, Howard, When Olsen was having that Wankfest last week, it proved no doubt that who the ANF were supporting.
And Sattler was getting stuck into Unions WA for stating the bleeding obviious !!!!
Olsen sure knows how to suck up :-)