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 Home Media Resources Nationwide Medicare Day of Action - September 26 2003
Nationwide Medicare Day of Action - September 26 2003The Health Services Union is planning to escalate its Medicare campaign with a nationwide day of action by healthworkers to take place on October 22 . The action, which will include workplace meetings and protest rallies is the biggest organised so far in the Health Services Union's national Medicare campaign. A rally will be held outside the office of Kay Patterson in Melbourne with giant Medicare petitions which have been signed by workers around the country to be presented to the minister. Labor MPs are being invited to attend workplace and mass meetings to address health workers on the party's plan for Medicare. Other unions will get involved in Tasmania and Western Australia. The action is the biggest so far in the union's campaign which is also going to run until the next election and include targeting of coalition MPs in marginal seats. Members at the October 22 meetings will vote on a HSU proposal to increase the Medicare levy by 1 per cent with the money devoted strictly to health. The HSU's national secretary Craig Thomson said: "There is a great deal of concern amongst members at what is being done to the health system at the moment. "Members of the union are among the worst-affected by the decline of bulk-billing under the Howard government and the increase in the co-payments for GP visits. Not only do they suffer as consumers but in their work in the public hospital system which has grown increasingly busy as the bulk-billing rate has fallen. "Emergency departments are busier than ever before and every state has reported a growth in the number of people attending with minor complaints that could be seen by a GP. "The problem is compounded by the lack of beds in aged care which are leaving elderly people stranded in hospitals. Our members who are ambulance officers are also daily faced with bed shortages that put lives at risk." He said the union would ensure there was no disruption to services in hospitals despite the protest meetings. "Hospitals can't afford to have any disruption to their services because they are already overloaded so members will make sure whatever takes place there are no patients who will be adversely affected,'' he said. "We don't want to make things worse - John Howard and Kay Patterson are doing that as it is."
Contact Details Health Services Union Ph: 03 93413328 Fax: 03 93413329 hsu@hsu.net.au http://www.hsu.net.au |
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© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU) |
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