Kings Park kicked off the new round of HealthShare roster roadshows on Monday, with Prestons, Regents Park, SE Sydney, North Ryde, Warrawong and Cardiff following this week. HealthShare presented four “award compliant” roster options which bake in unfairness and fail to address the many issues raised by members at previous roadshows.

The presented rosters, which offer 9.5 and 10-hour options but crucially still no 8-hour option, do not represent genuine consultation with union members about the pattern that governs their entire lives. As a reminder to HealthShare: consultation means listening to and acting on workers’ feedback, not simply dictating the needs of the business.

Several things have become clear at these roadshows: despite a promise to create rosters that are fair and equitable, the groups provided vary wildly in terms of penalties offered; despite a promise to consult with union members, much feedback has been ignored; and despite a promise to improve service delivery, Patient Transport continues to run inefficiently due to poor patient scheduling, which members know is the root cause of PTS’s efficiency woes.

Additionally, management’s tone when speaking with working parents and carers lacked empathy. In case HealthShare needs reminding, Flexible Working Arrangements are an industrial entitlement, not a privilege to be doled out at whim.

Delegates and members know that PTOs can put up a fight and will not tolerate unfair rostering practices. Ex-LHD and ex-Green Fleet PTOs remember how hard they fought to keep fair rosters during the HealthShare merger in 2016. These hard-fought agreements are also under attack, with no genuine consultation with these groups so far. Union members vehemently disagree that HealthShare can renege on these grandparented arrangements.

At the end of this long process members may be forced to take action on this issue directly. In the meantime, it is left to the membership to work through the drafts provided and see what can be improved to actually meet the stated goal of “fair and equitable rosters.”