- by Arthur Martin
- The Guardian
- Issue #2192
White collar workplaces dealing with digital technology, including Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) and office workers, are not generally known for trade union activity. But given the recent growth of these industries in Australia and the poor conditions that can often accompany them, it is perhaps inevitable that this would begin to change.
On 22 May, members of the Health Services Union (HSU) employed under the Single Digital Patient Record Implementation Authority (SDPRIA) as part of eHealth NSW, the digital health arm of NSW Health, voted overwhelmingly to stop work for an hour on 25 May with regards to urgent psychosocial risks. This action, voted up with over 98% of members in attendance, was a reflection of deteriorating conditions in the workplace.
Many alarming issues were raised at the work stoppage, including the health impacts of stress and overwork. Members described seeking medical treatment for poor mental health, with one member having recently suffered a stress-related stroke, as well as suffering from poor treatment by senior leadership teams and regularly taking on stressful and unsustainable workloads. The wellbeing of workers rolling out the Single Digital Patient Record (SDPR) program has been an ongoing issue, with alarms being raised by workers for months in the lead-up to this action.
In addition to the impacts on staff, workers raised that they were deeply concerned about the potential impact on patients, as executives have routinely failed to listen to risks that could cause adverse health outcomes for patients. The complaints ultimately fell on deaf ears, pushing workers to unionise and escalate their actions.
Tremendous amounts of unpaid overtime have become the standard in SDPRIA, with an unreliable rostering system and members being coerced into shiftwork; members described having raised alarm bells for several months that there were flaws in the planned rollout of SDPR, which lacked appropriate staffing levels, adequate training, and a plan for ongoing management.
Comments from the executives have often reduced complaints about issues with communication and pleas for workers to simply come to the office more often for “visibility” reasons. There have been claims that there are no existing workload issues – unbelievable, coming during a time where SDPRIA was calling out for secondments and volunteers from other areas in eHealth NSW and elsewhere in NSW Health.
Turnover has also been extremely high, with many teams lacking workers who have been there longer than a few months, a significant problem when rolling out technology that can take months to learn.
The decision to take action did not come easily. The lack of union history of the workforce as well as their sense of connection to the social outcomes of their work, in this case being the electronic medical records (eMRs) and databases that support the delivery of healthcare in the NSW public sector, made many workers reluctant to join the union and escalate their actions. That this decision was made is a testament to how much conditions have worsened.
At the work stoppage, members endorsed ongoing “work to rule” action for an indefinite period of time, regardless of the timelines of the SDPR program. This comes on the back of notification of a number of concessions made to the HSU, including urgent reviews of the working conditions in SDPRIA by an independent body and the establishment of a safety committee comprised of staff at eHealth NSW.
These concessions coming so quickly following a show of action from the members demonstrated in real-time the importance of being organised in a union, following months of fruitless attempts at raising issues as individuals. The union is growing rapidly in the ICT space in NSW Health, and is perhaps a sign that these traditionally non-union spaces may slowly be starting to change.
