Members briefing

An exclusive e-newsletter for members of the AMA in Tasmania

The 2009 industrial agreement has been successfully negotiated.

The 2009 industrial agreement for salaried medical practitioners working in Tasmanian public hospitals has been successfully negotiated by AMA Tasmania.

After a somewhat lengthy and intense process, agreement has been reached between the parties and approved by an overwhelming majority of AMA members working in the public sector. The AMA appreciates the government's position as it had to balance the opposing imperatives of maintaining restraint on public sector wage expenditure in the current financial climate while preserving the sustainability of public hospitals by being able to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of high quality medical staff.

The current agreement has successfully managed to maintain government wages policy and at the same time produce a salary package for both junior and a specialist doctors working in the public hospital system that is broadly competitive with other States. AMA Tasmania is optimistic that this new wages deal will enable those hard-working doctors already employed in the public system to be able continue to do just that and that it will also assist with attracting appropriately qualified medical staff to fill currently outstanding vacancies. The agreement is yet to be formally signed off but the AMA is hopeful that this will be achieved prior to Christmas this year.

Minister: "New Deal Agreed for Doctors"

Health Minister Lara Giddings today announced agreement had been reached with the State’s public hospital doctors on a new three year industrial agreement.

Ms Giddings said the agreement was in line with the Government’s wages policy and put Tasmania in a competitive position in terms of recruitment and retention for future years.

“As a State and as a community we highly value the work done by our doctors,” Ms Giddings said.

“Costing $25 million over the life of the Agreement, the new arrangements have been negotiated in good faith with the global economic position and its impact on Tasmanian Government revenues in mind.

“I particularly welcome the fact that a substantial part of this investment involves the training, education and development of our doctors.

“Throughout the negotiations the Government understood the need to ensure Tasmania remains competitive and that patients in this State are treated by the best and brightest.

“In line with the profession’s request, a key focus has been on improving training for young doctors,and ensuring we retain in the State experienced specialists who can act as mentors and teachers for the next generation.

Ms Giddings said the key features of the new agreement included;

a base wage increase consistent with the Government Wages Policy;
an attraction and retention package for Specialists delivered over the life of the agreement and embedded in a career restructure that places Tasmania in a competitive position with respect to other Australian jurisdictions; and
a significant improvement in professional development support.

Ms Giddings said the agreement would provide a contemporary and nationally competitive package for all salaried doctors in Tasmania.

“We have been able to strike an agreement that fits with the Government’s wages policy.

“Critical in this negotiation has been the development of an attraction and retention component of the package for specialists.

“This has been achieved through a progressive introduction of a new career structure for Specialists over the life of the Agreement.

“The recruitment and retention of doctors is critical to providing high quality care and competitive conditions of employment are essential to achieving this.

“The State has been successful in increasing its medical workforce but cannot become complacent.

“We need to work hard to ensure we keep the doctors we have now and that we can compete with other jurisdictions for new staff,” Ms Giddings said.

The new agreement will run until 30 June 2012 and also includes:
Base salary increases of 1% in December 2009, 1% in December 2010 and 2.5% in December 2011 in line with Government wages policy;
A new Specialist salary structure which incorporates attraction and retention incentives, such as much stronger focus on Continuing Professional Development; and
Assistance with ongoing education expenses for doctors in training.

Expect a TEST e-mail soon!

We have had reports of some members not receiving e-mails, so we are about to test the database we have with a mass e-mail to all members. We will do this with an e-mail that will have both an in-built check that will allow us to see if it was delivered or not and then we get an automatic second message when you open it.

So when you receive this e-mail can you please open it and close it just the once.

Thanks to everyone for assisting us in the test.

Tony Steven