Fair decision from Fair Work Commission
The AMA has welcomed today's decision by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to reject the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) claim for a low paid bargaining authorisation for practice nurses working in medical practices.
Chair of the AMA Council of General Practice, Dr Brian Morton, said that the Federal AMA, along with AMA Victoria and AMA Tasmania, opposed this claim before the FWC, arguing that practice nurses are not low paid and that they already bargain extensively with employers at the local level.
Dr Morton said that the AMA argued that the ANF claim had the potential to drive up costs for practices by centralising the negotiation of wages and conditions.
“The AMA presented extensive witness evidence and supporting submissions to the Commission in support of our case,” Dr Morton said.
“In rejecting the ANF application, the FWC concluded that most practice nurses were not low paid and that the case for the authorisation was not strong.
“It found several important factors indicated that multi-employer bargaining may be undesirable or less appropriate than genuine enterprise-based bargaining and, on that basis, it was not in the public interest to make the authorisation.”
The ANF application covered 682 medical practices, most in Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales.
17 June 2013
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