11 June 2019
The peak body representing more than 20,000 South Australian nurses and midwives says its members are angered by the State Government’s decision to increase staff parking fees at most major metropolitan hospitals.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (SA Branch) CEO/Secretary Adj Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars AM says the decision is set to cost most hospital staff more than $700 a year.
“I don’t know how the State Government thinks it’s acceptable for life-saving nurses, midwives and other health professionals to be asked to fund cost savings in the upcoming state budget,” Ms Dabars says.
“Whilst a Government Minister gets dropped off at their workplace in a chauffeur-driven car, nurses and midwives providing critical, around-the-clock care are slugged more than $1000 a year in parking fees—I think this situation is simply unacceptable.”
She says it’s yet another blow for staff who are being asked to endure worsening working conditions.
“Nurses and midwives are already fronting up to work each day in hospitals constantly full and with patients spilling into ambulances on their ramps. Nurses and Midwives are also confronted by rising levels of violence in health care settings”.
Ms Dabars says the State Government’s actions in recent days to take the annual leave loadings issue to the SA Supreme Court was yet another sign of its mean spiritedness when dealing with its own employees.
“To argue that nurses and midwives should get lower levels of loading on their well-earned annual leave, and at the same time ask them to pay more than ever for the privilege to turn up for work, shows how out of touch Premier Marshall and his team are with the reality our members face.”
“They continue to turn up to care for their patients. But with 1 in 5 nurses already considering leaving their roles, when will enough be enough?”
“Nurses and midwives are the backbone of our public health system. But right now, they feel undervalued and abandoned by their government and their employer. They are seriously concerned about the impact of rising parking costs on families needing emergency care.”
The ANMF (SA Branch) this week commences formal negotiations with the State Government on behalf of thousands of public sector nurses and midwives for the workforce’s next enterprise agreement.
“If the Government has decided to take hundreds of dollars in parking fees from nurses and midwives, we expect appropriate compensation to be put on the table in our upcoming enterprise agreement negotiations.”