Today, HACSU radiographers, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists at the RHH have again been left with no option but to escalate their industrial action, walking off the job for two hours.
This comes as the Medical Imaging Department experiences over 30% vacancy rates, causing staff burnout and leaving some of the most vulnerable in the community without vital scans.
Medical imaging workers are making the reasonable request to receive a market allowance – an additional standing increase to the base salaries to match mainland wages – and have been taking industrial action for over three months, including recently banning the use of a new $9 million CT scanner in the Department and halting all billing for patient referrals. Despite this, the government has not engaged directly with the workers’ union since June.
“The health minister committed prior to the last state election that he was going to fix the health system, and it just shows that we’re still in crisis when workers need to strike just to try and get the minister to listen,” HACSU State Secretary Robbie Moore says.
“The fact remains we have massive staffing shortfalls in medical imaging, and we simply cannot attract these vital health professionals due to the significant pay disparity between Tasmanian medical imaging workers and their interstate counterparts.”
If the government continues to turn a blind eye to this staffing crisis, workers will be forced to consider escalating to full-day work stoppages.