Protecting the Queensland Dream for Health Workers
30 | 09 |2008
Joyanne Higginbottom worries that her children and her neighbour’s kids won’t be able to buy a house and have the Queensland lifestyle she and her generation enjoy. “
Job security underpins our generations ability to buy a house and live the Queensland dream,” Joyanne explains.
Joyanne will be a speaker at the big rally in Brisbane in Queen’s Park tomorrow, organized by the Australian Workers’ Union and other health unions. More than five thousand workers around the state are expected to attend rallies.
Speaking in front of a huge crowd is not normal for Joyanne but she is worried that her three children won’t get the same job security as she and her partner have come to expect… and that’s driving her to speak out. Joyanne has been working for the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Woolloongabba for three years, and her partner, Mark Muir, has worked at the same hospital doing the same job – except on the night shift –for 18 years.
Joyanne and Mark live at Browns Plains and have three kids at home – 18, 4 and a 1 year old. She has only just returned to work after maternity leave. “ We are a little like ships in the night passing each other but once the children have grown up that will change.
“ The job is important to me, not just for the money, but I enjoy working with the patients and with my workmates.”
Working as porters at the hospital the couple each earn a minimum of $19 an hour. They could lose about 20 per cent of their wages if a contractor was brought in – that’s about $200 less in the pocket.
“ We know that if these jobs are contracted out we would see both a cut in our wages and lose our job security – the contractors prefer casual workers, not permanents,” Joyanne said.
“ In these stringent times banks will not look as kindly on people employed as contractors. They know that if a contractor loses a tender then the employees almost always lose their jobs. “
AWU State Secretary, Bill Ludwig, says it’s important that the Queensland Premier hears the views of the workforce in Queensland Health. These people are campaigning to ensure the state has the best health system.
“ That’s why we will have the voices of Health workers heard at the rallies today in Townsville, Rockhampton, Mackay and Cairns,” Bill Ludwig said.
“ Listen carefully you will hear that all our members are asking for is the respect for the jobs they do, recognition of the importance of their place in the health system, and the resources to do their jobs properly. The health system can’t operate without them,” he said.
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