The territory struggles to retain staff because of low salaries and that represents a ‘grave risk’ for patients in Canberra, says the ASMOF.
The ACT’s public hospital doctors are heading to the Fair Work Commission after two years of deadlocked pay rise negotiations.
The Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation ACT has applied to the FWC to settle the wage dispute with the ACT government.
A government spokesperson was quoted in the Canberra Times, saying arbitration would be the fastest way to end the dispute.
“The government did not oppose the application as we believe this will provide the quickest pathway to resolving the pay dispute through a binding arbitration process,” the spokesman said.
Earlier this year doctors rejected an agreement offered by the ACT government to the tune of 86%. The pay rate proposed for senior specialists was just over $264,000 a year and was the second lowest in the country, with only NSW lower. According to the AMA ACT, the best paid specialists in the territory are earning just 65% of their counterparts in Victoria.
“Our members have always been concerned about the safety of the Canberra public, and the reason that we took the industrial action is that staff are getting increasingly fatigued due to the inability to retain staff,” said ASMOF ACT branch president Associate Professor Jeffrey Looi, quoted in the CT.
“We took this action was so that we could get comparable wages that allow us to retain staff, but more importantly, because Canberra is a small jurisdiction, to recruit people from other states.”
He described it as “the worst staffing level I’ve ever seen”.
“There are grave risks that we face for the ability to look after Canberrans because we can’t retain enough junior and senior doctors to maintain the stability of services,” he said.
A directions hearing is set for next Wednesday.