What is Protected Industrial Action?

Protected Industrial Action are actions that union members can take as part of the bargaining process to demonstrate your dissatisfaction and exert pressure on Ramsay to come to the table with an offer that addresses your concerns. These actions have been carefully designed to disrupt the normal operations of Ramsay, without compromising patient care or violating any laws.

During Protected Industrial Action, union members may engage in various activities such as uniform bans, refusing to perform specific tasks, working strictly as per your scheduled hours, banning overtime, refusing to enter data, avoiding revenue-generating tasks, or even staging temporary work stoppages. A list of the actions being balloted is below.

It's important to note that Protected Industrial Action provides legal protection to union members, ensuring that Ramsay cannot take disciplinary action against you for participating in these actions. However, only union members are entitled to this protection, which is why it's so important for non-union members to join their union if they wish to be part of the upcoming actions.

What Actions are being Balloted?

The following questions will be asked during the ballot process:

1. A ban on wearing uniforms mandated by the employer’s uniform policy, whilst still complying with PPE and workplace health and safety obligations.
2. A refusal to do paperwork relating to billing, or enabling the employer to bill Medicare, NDIS or any other payer.
3. A refusal to collect and enter data for “Vision Tree” data system.
4. A refusal to enter data for “rehab timestamps” for therapy time collation.
5. A refusal to complete all paperwork that is not essential to patient safety or professional obligations.
6. A refusal to undertake any overtime or accrue TOIL.
7. An unlimited number of bans of up to 24 hours of duration on non-clinical duties that are not essential to patient safety or professional obligations.
8. Distributing information and speaking to clients, their families, the community and the media about the reason for the industrial action, and the wearing of campaign clothing or stickers.
9. An indefinite refusal to complete any duties outside of a strict interpretation of industrial instruments, policies and procedures, role descriptions and relevant professional scopes of practice that are not essential.
10. Stoppages of work for up to 12 hour periods.

How does the ballot work?

Together is encouraging members to vote yes for each action as this will give you the most options for sending a clear message to Ramsay. By voting up any of the actions listed above it gives members the opportunity to take these actions during the bargaining process. Members and Delegates will then decide which actions to take and when. Even if you are unsure whether you would take all the actions listed above it is important for them to be voted up so that the option is available in the future.

What happens after the ballot is complete?

Once the ballot is complete the AEC will declare the results. All actions that have majority of respondents' vote yes will be available to members to take and any that don't get a majority yes vote will not.  Members and delegates will then decide when to commence actions. Notification of three days must be given before actions can commence, except for question 10 which will require seven days notice.

As part of submitting the protected action ballot application we are required to have a conciliation meeting with Ramsay to be mediated by the Fair Work Commission in order to try and come to an agreement prior to action taking place (this is part of the Fair Work Act). This meeting is on 17 July - we will keep members updated on the outcome.