A health union remains unhappy about a staffing restructure in this region and will head back to the Industrial Relations Commission this week.
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Health Services Union (HSU) general secretary Gerard Hayes said while his organisation and members had continued negotiations "in good faith" with the Southern NSW Local Health District over its restructure, the latter had "disregarded requests to provide accurate and transparent data surrounding affected positions."
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The Health District announced the restructure in September. At the time, CEO Margaret Bennett said 53 people in managerial and support positions would be "directly impacted."
A further 94 people would be affected by changes to reporting lines, clarification to work and changes of grades. These staff would be "matched to like positions," while 27 new roles focused on patient care would be created.
Mr Hayes said more than 100 positions were affected and the Health District had still not supplied the current gradings to positions on the proposed structure, despite two IRC hearings.
The parties are headed back to the Commision on Tuesday, November 10.
"This restructure has unleashed uncertainty and anxiety for many HSU members employed by the Southern Local Health District," he said in a statement.
"Management has been decidedly unclear about gradings and future roles and consultation has been haphazard and disingenuous.
"Unfortunately this comes on the back of four and a half years of ambiguity and uncertainty. Management need to go back to the drawing board and engage meaningfully with their workforce. At the moment goodwill and trust is at a very low ebb."
Ms Bennett has previously defended the restructure, saying it allowed the Health District to best meet community needs well into the future and the "vast majority of positions wouldn't be affected.
She wanted it finalised by Christmas in order to give staff certainty and direction.
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Louise Thrower
If you have a story to tell, drop me a line at louise.thrower@austcommunitymedia.com.au or call 0418 229 678.
If you have a story to tell, drop me a line at louise.thrower@austcommunitymedia.com.au or call 0418 229 678.
