Blood service nurses to go on strike

Less than 200 blood service nurses have been given permission to take industrial action a week after 30,000 of their Victorian colleagues were told they faced $6,000 fines if they went on strike.

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission has granted an application that will allow Australian Red Cross Blood Service nurses to take industrial action.

The nurses will start receiving ballot papers from the Australian Electoral Commission from Tuesday for a postal ballot.

If they vote to take industrial action, their pay will be protected.

The decision comes less than a week after the commission refused to authorise a similar strike ballot for more than 30,000 nurses.

It found the action illegal because the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) is seeking single agreements for all nurses in public hospitals and mental health centres, which is not allowed under Work Choices.

"We are very pleased for the Red Cross nurses but it is nonsense for the government to hide behind a legal argument that they are different," ANF (Victorian Branch) secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said.

"They (Red Cross nurses) will have the option of taking action to protect the existing working conditions that management is trying to remove and to secure a fair wage rise and safe client workloads."

The ANF is seeking a pay rise of six per cent per year over three years for the Red Cross nurses and changes to conditions and their career structure.

The union said Australian Red Cross Blood Service management had offered no pay rise and planned to take away conditions such as study leave and accrued days off.

The blood service's management would not comment except to say, in a statement, that discussions were continuing to reach an agreement that met the needs of the organisation and workers.

Meanwhile, the union has continued negotiations without success for an agreement for public nurses.

The government wants different agreements that reflect regional variations across the state's 143 hospitals and 23 mental-health employers.

"There has been little progress," Ms Fitzpatrick said.

Article from www.smh.com.au