Staff members who were told they were no longer needed by one of Australia’s largest healthcare providers have had a small win this week after calling for an ‘urgent conference’ with the Fair Work Commission.
Staff redundancies made by Ramsay Health Care in July at its Joondalup Health Campus will now be delayed for at least two weeks after a hearing was held on Wednesday.
“Five of us are here today because we’ve been made redundant,” a Joondalup Health Campus staff member who wished to remain anonymous said.
“I received an email calling for a meeting a few weeks ago and we were told there would be no redundancies and that it was a reorganisation (of staff). They told us they were looking at reducing staff and wanted expressions of interest for a reduction of hours.
“A few days later I received an email to attend another meeting and they said the people who would be chosen for redundancy would find out before the meeting.
“I was personally pulled in 10 minutes before I finished my shift . . . and then they told me that I was out.”
JHC patient transporter and union delegate Neil Johns, who led the Fair Work Commission meeting on Wednesday, said he found out about staff redundancies during his leave.
“I was off for three weeks and then I started getting a lot of messages from staff — as their delegate they wanted to know what was going on,” Mr Johns said.
“It appears that Ramsay is moving through the hospital in different areas, in different work groups, one at a time. Nobody knows how many people are going to lose their jobs.
“Every hospital and health department that I know of is crying out for nursing and trained skilled staff. (Yet) we’re employing staff at the moment who have no skills and no training to do my role to be put on the floor.”
In a statement, a JHC spokesperson said the health campus was committed to working with the United Workers Union and impacted staff to resolve the matter.
Staffing cuts were first brought to light by PerthNow last month when documentation revealed Ramsay removed two full-time equivalent staff at its private hospital as well as rostered night shifts from midnight to 7am.
Ramsay then defended its move, attributing “the return to normal activity” after a busy COVID period.
It also refuted suggestions that patient care would be compromised because of staffing cuts and maintained it consulted with staff and the union about proposed changes.
However, at the Commission hearing on Wednesday UWU claimed Ramsay made staff redundant with “no consultation” and with “very little notice”.
“What it looks like for our members is that they don’t have a job,” UWU public sector coordinator Kevin Sneddon said.
“What it looks like for the public of West Australians is a health system that’s already under stress . . . under further stress. We’re led to believe this is only the first round of redundancies that have been made.”
Mr Johns, who first joined JHC 11 years ago, hoped the redundancy move would be reversed.
“I’m not a nurse or a doctor and I can’t fix people,” he said. “But I have chats with them and I try to lighten the mood for them . . . to give them an explanation of what’s happening and why that’s happening within my scope.
“Your whole work life revolves around what you know, what you’ve been doing and what your training is — to suddenly be told ‘we don’t need you anymore’ with two weeks’ notice . . . it’s life-changing.”
Earlier this week a redundant staff member made a plea on a local community social media group for employment, saying they were “desperate for a job”.