1. The Health Services Union The Health Services Union (HSU), is a well-recognised and respected union within the health and community services sector that has over 70, 000 members nation wide (The Health Serives Union) from areas such as aged care, disability care, community health, mental health, private practices and hospitals. The sole purpose of the HSU is to advance and protect wages, ensure decent working conditions and protect the rights and entitlements of its members (The Health and Services Union). Each member of the HSU is entitled to member benefits; these include, but are not limited to free legal advice, professional indemnity insurance and quality professional development and with branches in every state and territory within Australia HSU is able to ensure their members receive all adequate help in a timely matter. The HSU was deemed official in 1991, though it has origins back to when hospital workers first began to formalise the workings and form groups. In 1930 two rival unions banned together to create …show more content…
the Hospital, Dispensary and Asylum Employee’s and Allied Government Officers’ Federation of Australia, almost three decades later the Victorian union underwent a name change to the Hospitals Employees’ Federation of Australia (HEF). The HSU present today was created when the HEF and the Health and Research Employees Association (HREA), which was the New South Wales union at the time, joined together in 1991. Three years later in 1994, three new branches became members of the HSU; these included the Hospital Salaried Officers Association from Western Australia and two Victorian branches, the Medical Scientists Association of Victoria and the Victorian Psychologists Association (The Health Services Union). 2. HSU’s Stance This submission is a response to the productivity commission review of the Fair Work Act that was ordered by the Abbott Government, which is to focus on penalty rates and whether the continuation of penalty rates is damaging to business and the economy. The HSU, whose sole purpose is to protect the wages and entitlement of its members, are of the strong opinion that the Abbott Government should not rule in favour of decreasing penalty rates as doing so would be detrimental to not only workers and their families but also to the local and national economies. 3. Background to Penalty Rates Penalty rates were originally introduced in 1947 (Australian Union, 2015) as a way to compensate employees working part time or casually that were required to work hours that were considered ‘unsociable’ and which took them away from time that could otherwise be spent with family and friends such as public holidays, weekends, overtime and late night or early morning shifts. In 1997, 69.7% of workers were employed Monday to Friday (Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), 2015), this has changed significantly in the last thirty years, as time and society has progressed more flexibility in extended hours has been demanded which has created a 24hour/365 business cycle, especially for those working in industries such as retail, food and beverage and hospitality. Recently, in the last few years the change that has occurred has brought into question the validity of the current penalty rates scheme, which is why the Abbott Government has ordered a Productivity Commission Review in order to conclude whether penalty rates are still a valid tool or whether in the long run it is doing more harm then good to our economy. 4. Cutting Penalty Rates If the Abbott Government were to rule in the favour of cutting penalty rates the Australian economy could potentially lose up to $1.55 billion dollars every year (Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association (NSW & Newcastle branches), 2015) and is estimated to effect over 93 000 workers Australia wide (The Heath Services Union, 2015). According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics who conducted a survey on the various types of employment found that 2.9 million workers were employed as part time or casual employees (Statistics, 2014). While the retail sector may be in favour of cutting penalty rates it would have a detrimental effect on the health services industry, as this is the largest sector that relies solely on penalty rates as the award rate is so low. It is estimated that nurses working in South Australia rely upon penalty rates for 22.9% of their overall wages (Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), 2015). A small group of workers employed within this sector were given the opportunity to complete a survey about penalty rates and how important they were, the vast majority of those who completed the survey worked for and received penalty rates, figure 1 illustrates the importance of penalty rates to those working in the health and community services industry for two major reasons, the first being that penalty rates ensure that there are people willing and able to work the hours deemed ‘unsociable’ as well as the importance of penalty rates in attracting and retaining employees (HSU National, 2015). It was also highlighted in this same questionnaire as well as reported in The Australian that without penalty rates many employees within the health and community services sector would be forced to seek employment in another industries as the award wages these workers receive without penalty rates are not enough to maintain a decent standard of living (Wallace, 2015) due to their annual pay being cut by up to $22 000 a year if penalty rates were to be abolished (Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), 2015). Not only will this have a detriment effect on people employed in the health and community services sector it will also cause significant problems for rural people and their communities. In the case study conducted by The McKell Institute found that rural workers in New South Wales who are already earning $5 300 dollars less then their city equivalents will be further burdened significantly if the proposition to cut penalty rates was successful, if successful it could mean that on average every worker would see a pay cut any where between 4.6% to 16.5% (Institute, 2014). This then has a flow on effect to the wider community who could experience a loss of up to 111 million dollars (McKeller Institute, 2014). 5. Recommendations In summary, it is highly recommended by The Health Services Union that the proposed penalty rates cut be abolished and allow penalty rates to remain where they are.
There are several reasons why cutting penalty rates would be a bad economic decision by the government, these reasons include ensuring that there are health and community service workers to work the hours believed to be ‘unsociable’ as well as being about to attract and retain heath sector employees. Not only is cutting penalty rates bad for the health industries, it is detrimental to the rural parts of Australia who will not be able to maintain an adequate standard of living due to them being so heavily reliant on penalty rates. It will eventually begin negatively effect the nations economy, in the long run cutting penalty rates will decrease the amount of consumer spending which will affect the local economy almost immediately but also the national economy as well in the
future. So therefore, on behalf of The Health Union, it Is strongly advised that you as the government take into consideration our point of view when coming to your decision and that maintaining penalty rates is in the best interest of local communities and the nation as a whole. 6. References Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). (2015, April 2nd). Paying easter penalty rates will not hurt business. Retrieved September 19th, 2015, from www.atcu.org.au/actu-media/media-releases/2015/paying-easter-penalty-rates-will-not-hurt-businesses Australian Union. (2015). Union Achievements . Retrieved September 20th, 2015, from Penalty Rates : www.australianunions.org.au/union_achievements HSU National. (2015). Response to Productivity commission workplace relations framework: issue papers . Institute, T. M. (2014). The Economic Impact of Penalty Rate Cuts on Rural NSW. The McKell Institute. Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees Association (NSW & Newcastle branches). (2015, 8 4th). Take the Time . Retrieved September 22, 2015, from Penalty rates cut would devestate regional economies: research : www.takethetime.org.au/wp-content/2014/07/McKell_Penalty_rates Statistics, A. B. (2014, November 11th). Forms of Employment, Australia, November 2013. Retrieved September 22nd, 2015, from Employment Status : www.abs.gov.au The Health Serives Union. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved September 18th, 2015, from The Health Serivces Union: www.hsu.net.au/about_us/ Wallace, R. (2015, March 26th). South Australian Penalty Rates Deal a Gift To Tony Abbott: Union. Retrieved September 21st, 2015, from The Australian: www.theAustralian.com.au/south-australian-penalty-rates-deal-a-gift-to-tony-abbott-union
It also assesses these conformity assessment bodies and then accredits them where they are found to meet the internationally specified standard. UKAS works with a variety of government departments to support the principles of good policy by making and efficient delivery. Accreditation ensures that the everyone from specifiers, purchasers, and suppliers to consumer can have confidence in the good quality and in the provision of services throughout the supply chain. UKAS is licensed by British Standards Institution and consult the national accreditation symbols which symbolize Government recognition of the accreditation process. Health and Safety at Work (HSE) Act The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the law that provide safety and covers all features and areas of the workplace.
The ethical issue in this situation is the willingness of the company’s director to prevent the employees from organizing in union. Among others, the company’s director try to use unfair tactic like diversion, intimidation, manipulation, termination of job contract and threat to shut down the company leading to massive loss of job. In an ethical standpoint, these tactics are wrong.
Unions are organizations that negotiate with corporations, businesses and other organizations on behalf of union members. There are trade unions, which represent workers who do a particular type of job, and industrial unions, which represent workers in a particular industry. The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a trade union, while the United Auto Workers (UAW) is an industrial union.
While most countries around the world have some form of universal national health care system, the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, does not. There are much more benefits to the U.S. adopting a dorm of national health care system than to keep its current system, which has proved to be unnecessarily expensive, complicated, and overall inefficient.
‘Health and Safety at work act 1974’ is a very important Legislation when working in healthcare as this is here to keep everybody involved as safe as possible. This has a huge contribution to health care provisions as it involves mainly everything with the job, it will include providing the right training for the certain job they do, carrying out risk assessment for service uses and the equipment used. Making sure there is a safe environment to be working and providing the correct information on health and safety. There are many policies under this one legislation for example, First Aid. Every staff member working for the NHS and in health care should all have this basic training in case needed in an emergency. The...
Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) (2008) (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. Available at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/documents/health_and_social_care_act_2008_regulated_activities.pdf Accessed on:
Perspectives of workers or staff members- Workers who are providing the services to the service seekers or we can say the health service practitioners as well as professionals have the responsibility and liability to maintain the quality of the Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust. This can be done only when the staff of the home care is motivated enough to perform the practices efficiently. For this the monetary and non- monetary reward can provided to the employees of the home
Providing health care for all workers and their families is a very good way to improve the benefit that workers receive for the worst forms of work to render workers less vulnerable, and to express social and communal respect for them.
Public Expectations: In Health and Social Care, the public expects employees/workers to be caring, respectful towards the patients protected characteristics which means avoiding conflicts such as discrimination and inequality treatments. They should be able to protect personal information of the patients by following the 'Data protection and Confidentiality Act 1998'. They are expected to give good supportive advice towards their patients and employees to improve the quality of work and welfare benefits. They expect higher standards of care, detailed information about their treatment, communication and involvement in decisions making activities and also access to the latest treatments (Thekingsfund,
The HSE also has duty of care to ensure the wellbeing of workers. Its scope of practice and associated code provide direction and guidance to mental healthcare professionals on their
Is this type of legislation justified? In simple terms no. It removes basic human rights such as the Common Law belief of innocent until proven guilty, it also takes away the adversarial nature of our justice system and replaces it with the possibility of arbitrary imprisonment (NSW Law Commission, 2004). This type of legislation also fails to adequately balance the goals of Imprisonment instead focuses on the punitive goals and contradicts the goal of rehabilitation.
Health and social care professionals encounter a diverse amount of individuals who have different needs and preferences regarding their health. As professionals they must ensure that all services users, whether it is older people with dementia, an infant with physical disabilities or an adult with an eating disorder (National Minimum Data Set for Social Care, [no date]), are treated in a way that will successfully meet such needs. In fact, health and social care professionals have a ‘duty of care’ towards services users, as well as other workers, in which they must legally promote the wellbeing of individuals and protect them against harm, abuse and injury. (The Care Certificate Workbook Standard 3, [no date]) Duty of care is a legal requirement
Luckily under the new health care reform law, most people will receive help paying for their healthcare premiums and cost-sharing expenses that people with insurance have to pay out of pocket for doctor visits, and prescription medicine. Families and individuals will be able to receive this assistance with incomes between one hundred and four hundred percent of the federal poverty line. One hundred to four hundred percent makes up at about $23,000 to $94,000 a year assume this is for a family of four.
The implementation of a universal health care system in the United States is an important challenge that needs to be overcome. There are numerous amount of editorial that argue on both sides of the debate. Some people argue that a universal health care system would bring costs down and increase access to care while others argue that a universal health care system would be too expensive and reduce the quality of care. The correct answer requires intensive understanding and economics to overcome, the arguments must be examined for a proper answer.
Are unions in New Zealand (NZ) still useful is a debated issue. Logic suggests that they provide the necessary balance in power between employers and employees so will always be regarded as helpful. Conversely, changes over time mean they are not as valued as NZ’s representational avenues have changed to cope with new characteristics appearing in the workforce. This essay will explain the ideology behind this theory, illustrate evidence that supports it, but also state arguments against it by showing unions changing roles, unionisation levels, and reasons affecting decisions to join or not. It will show that although time has altered aspects of unions that unions in NZ today remain useful to employees in hearing and representing their voice.