and ASMOF (NSW) - Australian Medical Association NSW

feature
Industrial coverage – AMA (NSW) and ASMOF (NSW)
The change in the
industrial legislation
provides an opportunity
to bring together the
skills and experience
of the AMA (NSW)
and ASMOF (NSW) to
establish an integrated
“one stop shop” service
to DITs across all aspects
of employment and
training.
“I’m looking forward to
working with ASMOF
(NSW) to provide the best
possible service for DITs
in NSW. This is an exciting
opportunity to really make
a difference for DITs in
both the industrial and the
policy arenas.”
Dr Theresa Ly, Acting Chair,
AMA (NSW) DIT Committee
2013 is an important year for Doctorsin-Training
(DITs) in NSW. Since 1998
the Health Services Union (HSU) has
had exclusive coverage of DITs under
the monopolistic provisions of the NSW
Industrial Relations Act. Despite regular
promises to improve the Award covering
DITs, not only were no changes made
but the HSU also signed-away years of
productivity improvements which might
have been used as a basis for work value
claims. In addition to the failure by the
HSU to adequately represent DITs, HSU
officials have made regular appearances
in the media and in court in relation to
allegations of corruption and criminal
activity.
After years of hard work and lobbying
by the AMA (NSW), the NSW Government
has amended the legislation to allow DITs
to have a choice of union. The legislation
provides for the Australian Salaried
Medical Officers’ Federation (NSW)
to make a formal application to the
Industrial Relations Commission, a legal
process which we hope will be completed
in the near future. At that point – DITs
will have the choice to join ASMOF or the
HSU.
The AMA is not a trade union and
is unable to represent DITs in award
negotiations. We have always been
active however in representing DITs
in individual industrial matters and
have a team of highly qualified and
experienced legal and industrial staff
with unparalleled experience in DIT
issues. The AMA (NSW) is also heavily
involved in advocacy on behalf of DITs,
especially around intern shortages and
the potential shortage of resident and
registrar positions.
ASMOF (NSW) is the trade union that
represents staff specialists, clinical
academics and CMOs. They have an
enviable reputation for excellence
and professionalism in industrial
representation. One of the difficulties
with the HSU monopoly of industrial
coverage was that it created an artificial
distinction between industrial award
matters and training/workforce issues.
In reality, for DITs, it is impossible to
separate industrial and training matters.
The HSU’s lack of knowledge of DIT
training and workforce issues means
opportunities to address these issues
as part of award negotiations have been
lost.
The change in the industrial legislation
provides an opportunity to bring together
the skills and experience of the AMA
(NSW) and ASMOF (NSW) to establish
an integrated “one stop shop” service to
DITs across all aspects of employment
and training. The AMA (NSW) and
ASMOF (NSW) have reached in-principle
agreement to have a joint arrangement
that will allow DITs to join both
organisations for a single fee and have
access to the entire range of services.
This will enable ASMOF (NSW) and the
AMA (NSW) to present a united front on
behalf of DITs so training and workforce
issues can be raised as part of award
negotiations.
10 I THE NSW DOCTOR I NON MEMBER ISSUE | DECember 2012/JANUARY 2013

What should DITs do now
DITs who are currently members
of the AMA (NSW) should maintain
their membership. We will keep you
informed of progress on the joint
membership arrangement. You can
continue to access expert advice and
assistance on all industrial, training
and medico-legal matters and regular
members-only information seminars.
You can contribute via regular meetings
of the DIT Committee to AMA policymaking
and advocacy e.g. shortage of
training positions.
DITs who are not currently AMA
members should join now – visit
www.amansw.com.au or fill out
the membership form on page 48.
Membership will give you immediate
access to industrial and legal advice
and assistance. We will keep you
informed of progress on the joint
membership arrangement.
When the joint membership
arrangement is formalised, all DITs
who are members of the AMA (NSW)
will also become ASMOF (NSW)
members, unless they choose not to.
The AMA (NSW)/ASMOF (NSW) joint
membership arrangement will include
the employment of additional industrial
staff dedicated to DIT services. It is
highly likely that these and other
DIT- specific costs will require an
increase in membership fees. We will
keep members fully informed of any
proposed fee changes from the new
arrangements.
What will the joint AMA (NSW)/
ASMOF (NSW) arrangement
look like
From a DIT point of view, the joint
arrangement will operate as a
single organisation providing a
comprehensive range of industrial,
professional, educational, advocacy and
medico-legal services. There will be
democratically-elected DIT committees
with responsibility for oversight of DIT
industrial and policy matters. These
committees will have representatives
on the AMA (NSW) and the ASMOF
(NSW) councils. A combination of
ASMOF (NSW) and AMA (NSW) staff
dedicated to providing DIT services will
be located in the same office.
What will happen to the
DIT Award
The existing AMA (NSW) DIT Committee
is already discussing what changes
need to be made to the Award and
there will be extensive consultation
with members. A key fact is that the
NSW Government has legislated to
ensure there can be no cost above the
Government’s wages policy of 2.5 per
cent per annum without dollar-fordollar
“productivity improvements”.
This will make it difficult to achieve
significant improvements to wages.
However, there are many other
deficiencies in the Award which we
can focus on. There is also consistent
feedback that the key issue over the
next few years will be the availability
of training positions. It may be that
the industrial arena is a good place to
address this issue.
“We look forward to
finalising our rule
change application and
welcoming DITs into
ASMOF (NSW). This will
enable us to join with
AMA (NSW) to provide a
service that we believe
will be greater than the
sum of its parts.”
Dr Tony Sara,
President, ASMOF (NSW)
“It’s a great feeling to
know that all the hard
work of the past few
years has finally paid
off and DITs will finally
get the representation
they need from a joint
AMA (NSW)/ASMOF
(NSW) membership
arrangement.”
Dr Kathryn Austin,
former Chair, AMA (NSW)
DIT Committee and current
AMA (NSW) Board member
www.amansw.com.au I 11