Employment law changes bad for public hospitals

“Employment law changes expected to be rushed through Parliament today will be bad for public hospitals,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), today.

“The law changes threaten the right to collective agreement negotiations by removing the obligation to conclude negotiations. It encourages short sighted health bosses to walk away from the bargaining table thereby generating conflict. Public hospitals perform best when not in a state of conflict.

“It also removes the protection for new appointees to the standard employment conditions. This is particularly important for hospital specialists because we depend excessively on high levels of international recruitment. Overseas recruits will be much more likely to be vulnerable to the whims of short-sighted management.

“These law changes are irrelevant to the good far-sighted health bosses running our public hospitals but will legitimise the bad conduct of our short-sighted ones”

ENDS

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