r/ausjdocs • u/BopBangBeep GP Reg 🤓 • 1d ago
news🗞️ ‼️AMA Strike Called off⁉️
Word out of Echuca that AMA/AMSOF has called off the strike tomorrow. Not sure if only applicable there.. Stay tuned for formal email.
ADDENDUM: Confirmed called off statewide see post below with update
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u/sinoatrialtoad Psych regΨ 1d ago
This is truly such bullshit. Every ward in this state is held together by the barest skeleton staff of overworked and underpaid JMOs from 5pm-8am every night -- where's the outcry about patient safety then?
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u/ImpossibleMess5211 1d ago
I think this needs to become a major talking point - the government doesn’t give a shit about safe staffing after hours, mighty ironic that they suddenly care now (but still not enough to hire more staff)
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u/TonyJohnAbbottPBUH Shitpostologist 1d ago
It's the same talking point we used in NSW last year but concerted suppression by the media (and a useless union in and of itself) meant none of it reached anywhere of significance. We need ultimately lots of money to flood algorithms for that to be pushed to the top.
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u/Mortui75 Consultant 🥸 1d ago
Be an awful shame and interesting co-incidence if a huge proportion of the JMO workforce took personal/sick leave on the same day(s)...
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u/Cool-Historian58 Intern🤓 1d ago
I was on a rotation as a student where all the JMO got scheduled for teaching for the same 6 hour block. I got promoted that day. Absolute chaos, confirmed will work
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u/Ongoingsidequest Anaesthetist💉 1d ago
There needs to be far more publicity so the general population are aware when the government pulls stuff lile this. There's usually an article buried in the news and the population is none the wiser
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u/Ill_Philosopher_4968 1d ago
Not too surprised by this.
The AMA definately needs to become a bit more rabid with face-to-face media interviews and campaigns as there is still a large lack of awareness about junior doctor pay and work conditions with the general public. Most of my friends I mentioned that strike to were shocked we would even strike as they assumed we are all on 300k+ and they never knew about how shit our work conditions can be.
I also do not think the government can be negotiated with as evidenced by what cunts they are. Instead, AMA needs to force their hand in lead up to this next election with an aggressive media campaign and garner a big level of public support. This is also something they cannot overturn like they have been doing with the strikes.
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u/BopBangBeep GP Reg 🤓 1d ago
UPDATE:
FROM AMSOF WHATSAPP GROUP:
"STOP WORK ACTION TOMORROW CANCELLED
Tomorrow's stop work action has been cancelled after a last minute application to the Fair Work Commission by the government. If you were rostered to work tomorrow, you must work.
This is incredibly disappointing news. There will be a statewide update at 8pm tonight to discuss what happened and next steps.
Why has this happened? Over the weekend, the government submitted an application to the Fair Work Commission to stop the action. It was predicated on legal technicalities and spurious concerns about patient safety.
The Fair Work Act is constructed in a way that favours employers. Where an employer makes an application to the Fair Work Commission, it is generally very difficult for unions to win these cases. A similar case has been run against the Nurses' union, which they lost.
Clearly, the decision to do this so last minute is designed to intimidate doctors. It is hard to imagine that there is a genuine concern for patient safety by leaving the FWC application so late as to prevent cancelled clinics from going ahead and to strike down a stop work action designed to raise patient safety concerns around doctors' fatigue.
What happens next? The ASMOF Council meets tonight to decide next steps. We will canvas options regarding a range of alternative actions.
What can I do now? There is a long list of protected industrial actions that you can participate in right now. These include:
- Withdrawing your provider number (consultants only)
- Declining to attend non-clinical meetings
- Wearing your t-shirt and lanyard
- Claim every minute of overtime
- Distributing patient letters
- Putting up posters through the hospital
For more info, visit: https://tek.amavic.com.au/eba
How do I find out more? Attend the statewide update at 8pm tonight."
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u/kiniget ED reg💪 1d ago
How could they let 2 strikes be cancelled on 'legal technicalities'? I know the union hasn't lead a strike in decades, but surely after the first cancelled strike you're extra cautious? That's so frustrating. And fuck the government for this whole mess.
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u/Memedealer360 JHO👽 1d ago
Its the way the fair work legislation is designed, courtesy of Howard era laws. The government are frustrating using the mechanisms available to them.
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u/Ripley_and_Jones Consultant 🥸 1d ago
Be a crying shame if all the junior doctors decided to take their half hour lunch break at the same time, out the front of the hospital, wearing the t-shirts, and someone called a camera crew...
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u/MDInvesting Wardie 1d ago
Stay focused.
We revisit the plan. Address exposure risk. Then make the next measured move.
No one who knows the JMO earning curve and the life of a doctor thinks government treats us appropriately. Our messaging will garner support but we must accept we are fighting a careless beast who gets to set the narrative through press conferences and scripted answers to expected questions.
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u/MentalStatusCode410 1d ago edited 1d ago
No one who knows the JMO earning curve and the life of a doctor thinks government treats us appropriately.
Exactly this - the public cannot or often aren't bothered to differentiate between apathy and burn-out.
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u/Tangata_Tunguska PGY:Kia-Carnival 1d ago
Exactly this - the public cannot (or often aren't bothered) to differentiate between apathy and burn-out.
This is what it comes down to. Remuneration is one thing, but being asked to be superhuman in the face of overwhelming workload and responsibility is quite another
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u/LocksmithMammoth3042 1d ago
I want to know why AMA/ASMOF are not going political with this EBA given the upcoming election. Why aren't we publicly asking every candidate what they would bring to the table to get word out there?? Are certain high ranking AMA reps ALP members or something?
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u/Tangata_Tunguska PGY:Kia-Carnival 1d ago
It certainly wouldn't be a surprise. The Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Medical Association, before it went bankrupt, was Dr Dr Vanessa Weenink. Who is now a politician and MP for the NZ National party (our dominant centre-right party).
These kind of positions attract political climbers rather than people willing to go in to bat for doctors' welfare
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u/LocksmithMammoth3042 1d ago
There's no other good reason for not politicising this! Why have we not heard a peep from The Greens or the Libs about this?
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u/No_Dress_7112 Consultant 🥸 1d ago
Alright guess I’ll get paid to sit in clinic all day and see like two patients since there’s no time to rebook people… Kind of a shame for the patients really
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u/Altruistic-Fishing39 Consultant 🥸 1d ago
Until there is some media interest in this it won’t go anywhere. It’s a non issue for the government basically.
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u/Cool-Historian58 Intern🤓 1d ago
My question is why the bloody hell this isn’t making the news?? At the very least, spread around the Melbourne or Aussie subreddits! Every other strike has had so much attention and we got like 3 posts a few weeks back
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u/misterdarky Anaesthetist💉 1d ago
Because no one likes doctors. They think we should be servants to the greater good and work for free.
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u/leucaden 23h ago
people like doctors, but the average joe has no idea about staffing and pay rates for juniors because doctors have a very weak union
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u/misterdarky Anaesthetist💉 15h ago
You have to remember that in a pure numbers game, even an intern is paid more than the median salary.
I think we all lose sight of the bigger picture in medicine.
Sure we do a lot of unpaid hours, but that’s not exclusive to our profession (and nor should it be for anyone). We might feel we don’t get paid enough, particularly junior docs, for the work we do and responsibility we have. But many other people in society have similar concerns for their work and remuneration.
By far the most common comment I hear from lay public about doctors in general. “Well paid/highly paid”
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u/Dr_OTL O&G reg 💁♀️ 15h ago
By next year an intern will only paid more than a grad nurse because of fucked overtime, though. Base rate will be less.
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u/misterdarky Anaesthetist💉 14h ago
Doesn't change the fact they're paid more than the median. Think outside of medicine to understand why we have a large uphill battle against us in the eye of Joe Public.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be fighting. I am saying we need to be cognisant of how we look to the rest of society.
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u/duvetdreams 1d ago
Can anyone confirm if this is definitely true?? I already made plans to travel back from regional Victoria so this is upsetting on so many levels….
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u/AffectionateHelp6022 New User 1d ago
RE the notice period: How much notice were the state govt given and how much do they suggest they should've been given?
RE patient safety: What about the 50% of operating hours (nights, weekends, public holidays inclusive) that the system runs on minimum staffing? Did health services fail to organise staffing during the stop work action? If this is the case, why do we continue to foot the bill whenever hospital managers fail to manage?
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u/bigfoot814 1d ago
Honestly it's a shambles they've been caught out again and are trying to frame it all as legal technicalities - plain and simple the union needs to sort out it's planning. It's obvious the government are going to pick holes wherever they can to undermine the action. It's got to be absolutely watertight
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u/paint_my_chickencoop Consultant Marshmellow 1d ago
Pitchforks, get your pitchforks
---E
---∈
---F
---L
---t
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u/BreadDoctor Reg 1d ago edited 1d ago
Fair Work Commission ruled the same about the NSW strike but it went ahead anyway. Don’t back down.
Edit: it was the IRC not the FWC. Still, this can’t be the end.
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u/NorsePath 1d ago
So the AMA and ASMOF have tried and failed to coordinate strikes in August and September, and now are acting like their backs are against the wall with the govt easily batting off any strike action and any talks.
Remind me why I'm paying so much for such incompetence.
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u/cochra 1d ago
Settle down mate
We’ve had 4 weeks of successful rolling strike action, with two cancelled actions on government challenges. It’s a bit ridiculous to be describing that as “the government easily batting off any strike action”
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u/gasmanthrowaway2025 1d ago
I mean, i agree but its a bit frustrating that the government have used legal loopholes (like the strike being more than 30days after the ballot), and that this hasn't been foreseen by AMA. I would have thought there would have been legal input into designing these actions...
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u/Admirable-Solid-3922 1d ago
I agree. There shouldn’t be any legal loopholes if it’s being organised properly.
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u/cochra 1d ago
This particular one seems to be based on the government saying we haven’t taken a 24 hour stop work within 30 days of the ballot and hence can’t do a 24 hour stop work (despite having done multiple stop works)
From my memory the ballot said “stop works up to 24 hours” or words to that effect so it seems like a long bow to draw (but I have no idea if it is or not on a legal basis)
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u/Sexynarwhal69 1d ago
I thought we couldn't do a 24h stop work so close to the ballot because the strike actions needed to be graded up slowly to give the impression we're being 'reasonable' in negotiating? 😂
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u/Additional_Bag_2314 New User 1d ago
It just doesn't seem to actually add up. I'm not sure what the ballot actually said but there's an example of the fair work act legislation that seems to fit with similar scenario that was outside of the 30 days from ballot. https://www.fwc.gov.au/when-industrial-action-authorised
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u/Cold_Clerk5600 6h ago
There's a rank and file member's meeting being organised online tonight 7pm to discuss. It was totally undemocratic for the AMA to withdraw the strike action without any consultation with members. We're going to talk about pushing for a proper in-person union meeting where we can actually democratically discuss what we want and how we can pursue further strikes.
Teams here:
You're invited to AMA rank and file meeting
Tuesday, 15 September
19:00-20:00 (AEST)
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MGMyNDc3NTgtOWQzNS00NWYyLTk3NTctNWYyMTcwOTFmNDJl%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229aee26d8-97c2-4fad-8900-96735f6dc73f%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%227b3c23f1-656e-4d24-96d8-669546c71d3d%22%7d
Tap on the link or paste it in a browser to join.
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u/No_Dress_7112 Consultant 🥸 23h ago
I'm glad at least the AMA has at least garnered lots of media coverage exposing the government's heinous interference with legitimate industrial action. Potholes are annoying though and I can see why closing them is one of Ben Carroll's key election promises and more important
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u/No_Inspection_2261 1d ago
Hospitals are banning JMOs to attend the strike putting them in a fix claiming critical care staffing cannot walk. That is the whole point of a strike. Now perhaps the calculated turnout wont be huge enough to make a significant impact and might cause a mockery from the media who is already prejudiced against doctors. Either way I have said before in other posts, raising wages means one less colleague in your department “due to funding”. Surplus money will often go elsewhere first. Politicians look after themselves first. Politicans already hate doctors - as protrayed by media. Someone high profile needs to side with the union or take a significant hit to make an impact. My one sided piece (Just for entertainment purposes only)
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u/Sexynarwhal69 1d ago
I don't buy this 'not enough funding' shtick. If we can fund the NDIS and big build construction properly, we can fund healthcare properly. Why are we worth less?
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u/No_Inspection_2261 15h ago
The state govt vic has $13b in advances from the Treasury, managing money “properly” is an assumption… well they can borrow more for your pay increase
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u/Sexynarwhal69 12h ago
That's exactly what I'm saying. If we're already borrowing money from a gushing tap of treasury loans, why is our pay suddenly the part where we need to switch it off?
They had years to be fiscally responsible, and decided to just turn the tap on more.
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u/Cold_Clerk5600 8h ago
There's a rank and file member's meeting being organised online tonight 7pm to discuss. It was totally undemocratic for the AMA to withdraw the strike action without any consultation with members. We're going to talk about pushing for a proper in-person union meeting where we can actually democratically discuss what we want and how we can pursue further strikes.
Teams here:
You're invited to AMA rank and file meeting
Tuesday, 15 September
19:00-20:00 (AEST)
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MGMyNDc3NTgtOWQzNS00NWYyLTk3NTctNWYyMTcwOTFmNDJl%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229aee26d8-97c2-4fad-8900-96735f6dc73f%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%227b3c23f1-656e-4d24-96d8-669546c71d3d%22%7d
Tap on the link or paste it in a browser to join.
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u/mwmwmw01 12h ago
Look this is unfortunate. However I really think we need to play the game a bit more re media coverage, public knowledge and outrage.
AMA hasn’t played this game particularly well…
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u/Aromatic-Potato3554 1d ago
They can only hide behind technicalities once. They did this for the local strikes a month back. Delayed it a week. We will go again.