Scientists Go On Strike Over Plans To Privatise Pathology
The Age
Tuesday March 23, 1999
Services at the Royal Women's and Royal Children's hospitals will be disrupted today and some operations cancelled because of industrial action over the privatisation of pathology services.
About 80 medical scientists are due to begin a 24-hour strike at 9am after voting to ignore an Australian Industrial Relations Commission directive not to strike.
The Medical Scientists Association yesterday said a skeleton crew would provide emergency pathology services during the strike.
But the association warned there could be further stoppages unless the Women's and Children's healthcare network halted its privatisation plan.
The network yesterday contacted patients scheduled for complex elective surgery today to re-arrange their operations.
The chief executive of the network, Dr John de Campo, said a small number of operations were affected and there would be delays in getting test results but everything was being done to minimise the effect on patients.
The Opposition health spokesman, Mr John Thwaites, yesterday said the State Government should step in and stop the privatisation.
``The privatisation will mean the best people will get the sack. This is another cost-cutting measure that will downgrade the standard of the children's and women's hospitals," Mr Thwaites said.
The commission last Thursday recommended the union hold off industrial action until further talks were held to resolve the ``genuine and legitimate issues" arising from the proposed joint venture between Melbourne Pathology and the network.
Yesterday it upgraded the recommendation to a directive but union members voted in the afternoon to proceed with the strike.
The Medical Scientists Association's executive officer, Mr Sam Eichenbaum, said scientists were taking the unprecedented action to protect their jobs and the long-term interests of patients after six months of negotiations had failed.
Mr Eichenbaum said privatising pathology services inevitably meant complex pathology tests would be considered uneconomic and phased out, to the detriment of patients and research.
``A consultants' report commissioned by the network which is about a month old recommends that the hospitals stop doing certain tests and send these cases interstate," Mr Eichenbaum said.
``How can you claim to be one of the leading paediatric hospitals in the world and not have your own pathology service and use a new service that doesn't even do all the tests that you used to do?"
Dr de Campo yesterday said he would not accept any consultants' recommendations to reduce services.
``The point of the whole joint venture is to make us bigger and more viable so we can attract staff and do things better. Complex tests are our core business," Dr de Campo said.
© 1999 The Age