The Health Services Union and Barwon Health are s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) combatants.
December 15, 2016
The strain of salmonella thought to have killed two nursing home residents and caused dozens of others to fall ill has been found in a Wollongong bakery, tests have confirmed. To date, 31 cases of confirmed salmonella have been reported from 10 aged care facilities in the Illawarra, south eastern Sydney and ACT. Two patients have died as a result of the outbreak. The nursing homes involved are either run by Illawarra Retirement Trust or supplied catering by IRT. Last month testing conducted by the New South Wales Food Authority at Bettamaid wholesale bakery in Unanderra came back positive for salmonella.
December 15, 2016
Thi Dang continues to get under the skin of Dermatology Concepts and the Fair Work Commission with her persistent pursuit of an unfair dismissal claim. But Deputy President Clancy in Melbourne on 12 December 2016 told her in a written judgment that the “jig was up”.
December 15, 2016
Baxter Healthcare Pty Ltd is facing a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) before Senior Deputy President Hamberger in the Fair Work Commission Terrace Tower 80 William Street East Sydney at 10am (Carvana).
December 15, 2016
The Health Services Union is under fire for planning to buy a new head office in Carlton for $1.3 million. Senior HSU sources have described the decision as “an indulgent waste of members’ money”, saying the union’s financials were already stretched. It comes as the union prepares to hand down findings of an investigation into national secretary Chris Brown’s credit card expenses, after it was revealed he spent $73,000 in less than three years. Mr Brown recommended the HSU buy the 200 sq m suiteand the union’s national executive needed to approve it on Friday. A senior union source said the national branch did not need the office as it offered no services to members. “Things are on a knife’s edge as it is,” the source said. “Why take out a massive loan and pay thousands of dollars of interest on that loan? It’s not like the national office does anything anyway. Its meets once a month and that’s basically it. The national office services no members and has no income stream outside of capitation fees. It’s ironic that union capitation fees could see the decapitation of our union.”
December 15, 2016
Nurses at Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital have become reluctant heroes after safely evacuating 11 patients and putting out a fire that threatened their aged care rehabilitation ward last month. Nurse Carol Reed denied that she’d done anything special. “I don’t feel like a hero,” she said. “I just did my job – there were five other people there as well.” It was 4.30am and the nurses were on night shift when the fire alarm was triggered by a fluorescent light which melted its plastic cover and fell burning onto the floor. Ms Reed was the first to locate the fire. “I basically went in, assessed it, ducked out, thought to myself, ‘can I put that out? Yeah I can.’ And then I did,” she said. Nursing staff at the hospital have been trained to use fire extinguishers with refresher courses held annually. Working in pairs the nurses evacuated the patients to another ward behind a fire door. Ms Reed has been a nurse for 43 years and has worked across most areas including disability care, surgery and in a nursing home. She began working at Armadale 12 years ago after her children left home. “I wanted to get back to making a difference,” she said. Ms Reed suffered smoke inhalation from battling the fire and spent over an hour in the emergency department on a ventolin. “I had a sinus infection so that didn’t help with my breathing,” she said. “At the time, with the adrenaline kicking in it was fine but when I got home and sat down I thought, my god, what did we just do?”
December 15, 2016
The Health Services Union and Eskleigh Foundation Inc are debating a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) before Commissioner Cirkovic in Melbourne.
December 15, 2016
The Royal Flying Doctors Service Victoria is in a (s.739 – Application to deal with dispute) with a staff-member (Farrer). Deputy President Hamilton in the Fair Work Commission 11 Exhibition Street Melbourne has been called on to adjudicate.
