As the campaign to end the wages policy and fix the Awards heats up, it’s worth examining some of the worst aspects of the current wages and conditions system in NSW.

At the end of the day, all HSU members are badly affected by the poor wages, the dog’s breakfast made of allowances, and the nonsensical classification systems.

Here are a few examples from across the sector to show how much of a disaster this system really is:

• Pathology staff – whose world-class work was justly celebrated in the media during the pandemic – are spread across at least 3 Awards, with Technical Assistants and Technical Officers with high level qualifications (e.g. Masters, Degrees etc) doing higher level duties with no/little prospect of progressing.
• Clinical Coders lack a specific definition in the Awards, but are also spread across 3 Awards, often doing the same duties but on different pay levels and all vastly underpaid compared to other states. To add insult to injury, grading progression requires a university qualification that is no longer offered in NSW!
• Health Professionals and Allied Health Staff often find their classification no longer corresponds with either their duties, their professional courses, and/or professional development.
• Admin staff across the health sector are paid at very different levels for doing the same duties – often even in the same jobs!
• Public Dental staff are saddled with Awards classifications that are a nightmare scenario to progress.
• All HSU classifications are doing duties far beyond the responsibilities of their current pay rates.

These examples are just a small snapshot of the massive problems brought about by the NSW Government Wages Policy and their failure to allow genuine negotiations to occur.

But with your support (and the support of your workmates), this is going to change.

As a next step, we need you to endorse the HSU demands at this link. Our campaign will only succeed if we are all singing from the same song sheet.

To fix these serious issues across the sector, it is going to require some form of workplace action. Only HSU members can be protected when participating in workplace action.

Encourage your workmates to join online at www.hsu.asn.au/join or phone 1300 478 679.

Serious issues require serious action to rectify them. Inform your workmates that this fight will require their active participation as a union member. Together we can win!