HSU NSW Secretary Gerard Hayes says allied health workers will only take a pay hit for a short time.Credit:Flavio Brancaleone
But allied health staff who are covered by the HSU are outraged,saying Hayes abandoned them and some are now facing pay rises of just 2.7 per cent,well below the 4 per cent that their other health colleagues,such as nurses,are receiving. Inflation sits at 6 per cent.
Hayes struck the pay deal with Health Minister Ryan Park and Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis this month,just days before rolling industrial action was to start.
The Sydney Morning Herald has been contacted by several allied health workers,who say they feel like they have been “thrown under the bus” by Hayes in his quest to “secure headlines claiming he secured 8 per cent pay rises”.
A NSW Health clinical psychologist,who cannot be identified because they do not have permission to speak publicly,said the pay offer serves to “devalue allied health positions relative to medical and nursing staff within the NSW Health and between NSW public service organisations.”
The pyschologist warned that the $3500 flat deal,which members are currently voting on,will force “members into disunity and asks them to vote against each other”.
“It asks higher paid staff to sacrifice their own pay rise to fund a greater percentage increase for lower paid staff (e.g. 8.5 per cent for the lowest wages),” the psychologist said.
“It means many allied staff will receive less than 4 per cent – personally I will receive 2.7 per cent,which is less than the former Liberal government was offering.”