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Summer 2003

Eliza Purton staff stand up for rights as home attempts to cut staff

The troubled aged care facility Eliza Purton Nursing Home, currently the subject of Commonwealth sanctions, has again seen conflict between staff and management following another proposed restructure.

But a strong stand taken by HACSU members has been vindicated, with management finally forced to produce requested financial information, and as a result, to produce rosters that will have a far less severe effect on staff.

Recently placed under the new management of specialist aged care managers, One Care, the home was plunged into turmoil when following a management assurance in April that "there would be no need for any further restructuring", the new management only weeks later announced "financial difficulties" and put forward drastic roster changes.

This followed, only a couple of months earlier, a vote of no confidence in the Board.

The most recent dispute came when the new One Care management put out a draft roster, which would have seen between 13 and 19 full time equivalent staff disappear from the roster.

A huge turnout of 95 EPH staff rejected this outright at a staff meeting, resolving that the proposed roster be destroyed.

A subsequent process of benchmarking put forward by the Joint Consultative Committee was also rejected by another large meeting of 87 staff, with HACSU officials requesting the financial information management was relying on for their restructure.

The mistrust of management by staff was clear.

Finally, the financial information was released, and it became obvious that the situation was nowhere near as dire as management had painted it.

"A lot of people think when management tell you something that they, as a staff member, have no power to argue.

According to Shane Littler, the HACSU North West Industrial Organiser, the financial information changed the picture originally put to staff.

"The information showed that a lot less restructuring was required. It basically said that the rosters would have to be reduced by only the equivalent of one full time person."

"We will continue to negotiate on these issues, however, staff have made two things crystal clear.

They will not accept any forced redundancies and no staff will lose any contracted hours," Shane Littler said.

Staff at EPH were also dismayed by One Care management actions that saw residents stripped of personal effects such as pot plants, pets and wall paintings, a move management instigated to reduce staff hours required but which staff saw as a direct reduction in the quality of life of residents.

"That created a lot of anger and disillusionment," one staff member said.

"A lot of people think when management tell you something that they, as a staff member, have no power to argue. But staff have to realise that they are not just individuals, that as workers, as a group, we have a lot of strength."

"We had to fight hard against these staff cuts. But what we achieved was to force management to provide us with the financial information and from that we showed that the home didn't need to take the drastic actions they were suggesting.

We probably saved the equivalent of 10 or 15 people's jobs by our stand."

Negotiations are continuing as Inform goes to press.

Eliza Purton Nursing Home was the subject of sanctions by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing as a result of alleged inaccurate appraisals of the care required by clients, which directly affected the amount of Federal funding the Home was entitled to receive.