What: Key health, aged care, education and disability support workers talk about ending the ramping crisis; South Australian hospital support workers on Parliament House steps.
When: 11am-11.30am, Thursday 26 June
Where: Parliament House stairs, Adelaide
Who: United Workers Union Public Sector Director Demi Pnevmatikos, Patient Services Assistant Barb Possingham, Operating Theatre Technician Ricardo Ahumada, Disability Support Worker Sam Bannon plus 40 United Workers Union delegates.
Support workers are taking their demands to solve chronic ramping problems in South Australian hospitals to State Parliament, in a day of action about the health and disability support crisis.
Workers crucial to the state’s health system, and those supporting some of the state’s most vulnerable, will today take their demands for safe support services directly to state MPs.
More than 40 United Workers Union members who hold key support roles in hospital departments including in operating theatres, patient transport, cleaning, and sterilisation, and disability services officers who support some of the most vulnerable people with disabilities are lifting the lid on short staffing that is directly threatening patient care and resident support.
During the day United Workers Union members will meet with MPs and attend question time as they fight for fair pay and respect.
Workers are calling for significant action to address rising living costs and ensure workforce sustainability. South Australian health support workers are paid 20 per cent less than their counterparts in other states, leading to chronic short staffing that is fuelling ambulance ramping.
The day of action follows around 1500 disability support workers taking industrial action earlier this year, and industrial action including stop works in recent weeks at major Adelaide hospitals.
United Workers Union SA State Secretary and National Public Sector Director Demi Pnevmatikos:
When there’s no one to clean an emergency cubicle because they can’t afford to stay in the job, South Australians get ramped in ambulances. South Australia is falling behind – our health system is broken, and the public is getting poorer outcomes because we can’t keep essential workers. South Australia’s ambulance ramping crisis is directly caused by chronic short staffing and that’s because our members are paid 20% less than workers in other states.
United Workers Union Delegate and Disability Services Officer Sam Bannon:
We are some of the highest-trained disability services officers, but we receive some of the lowest remuneration possible. The work we do protects some of South Australia’s most vulnerable people, and we can’t do that work adequately if we’re underpaid ourselves. I’ve got colleagues who can’t put food on the table, who can’t buy shoes for their kids. This is becoming a real crunch point.
United Workers Union Delegate and Patient Services Assistant Barb Possingham:
We’ve got single parents struggling to make rent. We worked ourselves to the bone during Covid – there was no working from home for us. We are the lowest-paid workers in the Government system – we’re sending a message to the Government for fair pay.
United Workers Union Delegate and Theatre Technician Ricardo Ahumada:
We are highly qualified people. We’re not clinicians, we’re not medical – we’re technicians. The work goes from moving bodies in the organ donation process to calibrating a $6 million microscope in our hands so they can perform brain surgery. You’re meant to do two theatres but now, with low numbers, you are expected to do three or four theatres.
Background:
Today’s action at State Parliament is part of the state-wide industrial campaign by United Workers Union members. Since February, around 4000 workers have implemented work bans to demand fair pay and an end to chronic understaffing. These work bans and stop-works are ongoing.
ENDS