November 10, 2025 • 7 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We know that hundreds of Northern Territory hospital support workers
are preparing to walk off the job in well coming days. Now,
the United Workers Union says that cleaners, caterers, personal care assistance,
and medical imaging staff are going to take that protected
industrial action of installed enterprise Agreements talks. Joining me on
the line is Erina Early from the United Workers Union.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning to you.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Erina, Good morning Katie. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, really good? Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Now, Erina, tell me who are we expecting to take
this protected industrial action and when's it going to kick off.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
So we've got it scheduled for Monday, seventeenth of November
at eleven o'clock. So this will be all the hospitals
across the Northern Territory. So we're going to see the
hospital workers such as your cleaners, your catering staff, the
personal cares distance, we've got security officers, we've got biomedical,
(01:04):
we've got sterilization, we've got medical imaging and more are
going to be taking engaging in this action on the seventeenth.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So it's planned for next Monday, the seventeenth of November
at eleven am.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
What's it going to look like, what will they be doing.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
They'll be walking off the job for an hour, So
just an hour, just an hour. They just want to
send a message to say we're going to walk off
for an hour. They're feeling very, very positive about this
because they saw that they're being not heard, they've been undervalued,
so they want to do a short walk off and
(01:44):
then that will be in preparation for longer walk offs.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
And so, I mean, I was pretty fired up about
this on Friday because I thought to myself, like, I
get it right. We all want to be paid more
and we do need to be valued in our workplace,
and I would never dispute that. But we were experienced
seeing those code yellows last week as well, and I
just thought, this is not the right time.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, I can understand, you know, people feeling that way,
but also to you've got to remember, these are the
workers who're working under these conditions of employment. It's not
just always about wages, Katie. We've got work health and
safety issues here. We've got attraction and retention issues. As
you know. We've got a health crisis with the code yellows,
(02:29):
but that crisis as well involved the workforce, and they're
not happy.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So, first off, it's going to be Monday, eleven am
for an hour. How many are we expecting, like, how
many workers are you anticipating you're going to be taking
that industrial action?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Nearly close to one thousand workers across the NT So close.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
To one thousand are they all?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Are they all based at our major hospitals or where
are they based?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So we've got Ardie h We're going to have Parmise,
Then we're going to have Alice Springs. He's going to
Catherine Tenet Creek.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And go what kind of impact do you think it's
going to have on our healthcare system for that hour?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Is it going to bring it to its knees?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Well, it could significantly cause some destruction. But that's what
protected action is, Kate Sabi is. But the thing is
as well, you've got other people are going to be
supporting these other workers to ensure the safety of all patients,
because that's always a priority of our members.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Erona, what do you say to those people. I've already
got people messaging in this morning, you know, saying that
they're waiting ninety minutes for an X ray. You know
they are struggling to get into the health system. As
it is, what do you say to them as they're
listening this morning and maybe feeling quite angry about this.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well, the thing is they're waiting those times because they
don't have enough start and this is some of the
things that people are walking off for and are getting
angry about, Katie, because we don't have the best train
and retention, so we don't have the best people here.
We're understaffed.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So what exactly do these workers what are they after
as part of these negotiations, the pay negotiations.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Well, they want to ensure that they've got good work
health and faith in conditions. They want to ensure they're
getting the correct minimum breaks as well so they're not exhausted.
They want to ensure that they've got good fatigue management.
They want to ensure too that they're actually got a
real wage increase and growth. As you'll know, under the
(04:34):
previous government they had a wage free which impacted a
lot of these workers. So they've actually had no real
wate growth over the last four or five years.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
So how much are they after.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Well, our members have actually have revisited they're claims and
they would like to see what the police got. That
is a benchmark now for the public sector, is police
got five four, three and three.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I mean no disrespect in any way to cater as, cleaners,
you know, radiographers, whoever else it may be that is
taking this industrial action. But do you think they deserve
the same increase as those frontline workers?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
They're frontline workers as well, they're essential workers. They're the
backbone of the health system.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
What happens if there is no movement here? Eron, I like,
what where do you think this is going to land?
If the government sort of said, well, you know it's
three percent three percent over I think it was three years.
What happens if they don't move.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Well, that comes down to both sides of the table,
Ukti is the government have their strategic plan they use
and then the workers as well. We could have a
long drawn our EA negotiation.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Erina, what do you say to those listening this morning,
you know they're maybe thinking that this is a greed
the move.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well, I'll be disappointed if people think it's greedy, because
everyone seems to attack the worker instead of actually attacking
the actual issue here that we do have a problem
in the health services and our workers are actually taking
action because they want a better health system. Now people
can't see that. I am really disappointed.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Can you tell me as well, like give us some
perspective in terms of the workers that we're talking about
that are going to be taking this protected industrial action?
How do their wages compared to other states?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Okay, so are public sector workers so you know, housekeeping,
your cleaners, your catering, et cetera. Are probably just underpath.
So we're probably in the top four or five in Australia.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Okay, so we're top four or five, but you reckon,
we need to go better if we want to be competitive.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Absolutely, we really need to be competitive because these are
the jobs that a lot of people don't want, especially
in your housekeeping, your catering, etc. We want to get
these people here. They should be fully starffed because they're
critical jobs in the health service.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So Erina, eleven am. Next Monday, the Protected Industrial Action
is going to be kicking off. Do you reckon there's
going to be any movement between now and then? Are
you expecting the government or anybody to sit at the
table with you guys?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Well, at the moment, we do have the Fair Work
Commission dispute that's happening this week with all the public
sector union. Unfortunately, can't talk too much about it, Katie,
but they're in discussions all this week, so hopefully we
might be able to have a positive outcome by the
end of the week.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
All right, Lerena, you and I might be talking again
over the coming days. I really appreciate your time. Thank
you very much for having a.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Chat with us stage. Thank you Gray, You two
We know that hundreds of Northern Territory hospital support workers
are preparing to walk off the job in well coming days. Now,
the United Workers Union says that cleaners, caterers, personal care assistance,
and medical imaging staff are going to take that protected
industrial action of installed enterprise Agreements talks. Joining me on
the line is Erina Early from the United Workers Union.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning to you.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Erina, Good morning Katie. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, really good? Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Now, Erina, tell me who are we expecting to take
this protected industrial action and when's it going to kick off.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
So we've got it scheduled for Monday, seventeenth of November
at eleven o'clock. So this will be all the hospitals
across the Northern Territory. So we're going to see the
hospital workers such as your cleaners, your catering staff, the
personal cares distance, we've got security officers, we've got biomedical,
(01:04):
we've got sterilization, we've got medical imaging and more are
going to be taking engaging in this action on the seventeenth.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So it's planned for next Monday, the seventeenth of November
at eleven am.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
What's it going to look like, what will they be doing.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
They'll be walking off the job for an hour, So
just an hour, just an hour. They just want to
send a message to say we're going to walk off
for an hour. They're feeling very, very positive about this
because they saw that they're being not heard, they've been undervalued,
so they want to do a short walk off and
(01:44):
then that will be in preparation for longer walk offs.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
And so, I mean, I was pretty fired up about
this on Friday because I thought to myself, like, I
get it right. We all want to be paid more
and we do need to be valued in our workplace,
and I would never dispute that. But we were experienced
seeing those code yellows last week as well, and I
just thought, this is not the right time.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, I can understand, you know, people feeling that way,
but also to you've got to remember, these are the
workers who're working under these conditions of employment. It's not
just always about wages, Katie. We've got work health and
safety issues here. We've got attraction and retention issues. As
you know. We've got a health crisis with the code yellows,
(02:29):
but that crisis as well involved the workforce, and they're
not happy.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
So, first off, it's going to be Monday, eleven am
for an hour. How many are we expecting, like, how
many workers are you anticipating you're going to be taking
that industrial action?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Nearly close to one thousand workers across the NT So close.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
To one thousand are they all?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Are they all based at our major hospitals or where
are they based?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So we've got Ardie h We're going to have Parmise,
Then we're going to have Alice Springs. He's going to
Catherine Tenet Creek.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And go what kind of impact do you think it's
going to have on our healthcare system for that hour?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Is it going to bring it to its knees?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Well, it could significantly cause some destruction. But that's what
protected action is, Kate Sabi is. But the thing is
as well, you've got other people are going to be
supporting these other workers to ensure the safety of all patients,
because that's always a priority of our members.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Erona, what do you say to those people. I've already
got people messaging in this morning, you know, saying that
they're waiting ninety minutes for an X ray. You know
they are struggling to get into the health system. As
it is, what do you say to them as they're
listening this morning and maybe feeling quite angry about this.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well, the thing is they're waiting those times because they
don't have enough start and this is some of the
things that people are walking off for and are getting
angry about, Katie, because we don't have the best train
and retention, so we don't have the best people here.
We're understaffed.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So what exactly do these workers what are they after
as part of these negotiations, the pay negotiations.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Well, they want to ensure that they've got good work
health and faith in conditions. They want to ensure they're
getting the correct minimum breaks as well so they're not exhausted.
They want to ensure that they've got good fatigue management.
They want to ensure too that they're actually got a
real wage increase and growth. As you'll know, under the
(04:34):
previous government they had a wage free which impacted a
lot of these workers. So they've actually had no real
wate growth over the last four or five years.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
So how much are they after.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Well, our members have actually have revisited they're claims and
they would like to see what the police got. That
is a benchmark now for the public sector, is police
got five four, three and three.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
I mean no disrespect in any way to cater as, cleaners,
you know, radiographers, whoever else it may be that is
taking this industrial action. But do you think they deserve
the same increase as those frontline workers?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
They're frontline workers as well, they're essential workers. They're the
backbone of the health system.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
What happens if there is no movement here? Eron, I like,
what where do you think this is going to land?
If the government sort of said, well, you know it's
three percent three percent over I think it was three years.
What happens if they don't move.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Well, that comes down to both sides of the table,
Ukti is the government have their strategic plan they use
and then the workers as well. We could have a
long drawn our EA negotiation.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Erina, what do you say to those listening this morning,
you know they're maybe thinking that this is a greed
the move.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well, I'll be disappointed if people think it's greedy, because
everyone seems to attack the worker instead of actually attacking
the actual issue here that we do have a problem
in the health services and our workers are actually taking
action because they want a better health system. Now people
can't see that. I am really disappointed.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Can you tell me as well, like give us some
perspective in terms of the workers that we're talking about
that are going to be taking this protected industrial action?
How do their wages compared to other states?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Okay, so are public sector workers so you know, housekeeping,
your cleaners, your catering, et cetera. Are probably just underpath.
So we're probably in the top four or five in Australia.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Okay, so we're top four or five, but you reckon,
we need to go better if we want to be competitive.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Absolutely, we really need to be competitive because these are
the jobs that a lot of people don't want, especially
in your housekeeping, your catering, etc. We want to get
these people here. They should be fully starffed because they're
critical jobs in the health service.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So Erina, eleven am. Next Monday, the Protected Industrial Action
is going to be kicking off. Do you reckon there's
going to be any movement between now and then? Are
you expecting the government or anybody to sit at the
table with you guys?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Well, at the moment, we do have the Fair Work
Commission dispute that's happening this week with all the public
sector union. Unfortunately, can't talk too much about it, Katie,
but they're in discussions all this week, so hopefully we
might be able to have a positive outcome by the
end of the week.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
All right, Lerena, you and I might be talking again
over the coming days. I really appreciate your time. Thank
you very much for having a.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Chat with us stage. Thank you Gray, You two
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