Fri. Nov 22nd, 2024
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WA’s nurses’ union has agreed to accept a potential $350,000 fine for a major strike at parliament house last year, although the final figure still needs to be approved by the Industrial Relations Commission.

The rally drew a crowd of thousands of nurses, including some who had left work to attend, demanding a five per cent pay rise.

The government has maintained its current offer of between three and 4.5 per cent in the months since but has promised to pay it to nurses and midwives despite no full agreement being reached.

The strike was held in defiance of orders from the state’s Industrial Relations Commission, which its registrar has been seeking to enforce in a two-day hearing.

The IRC yesterday claimed the union “wilfully” and “flagrantly” flouted its orders not to strike.

Both parties agree to fine 

The commission was told this morning that both sides had agreed to an overall penalty of $350,000 — far short of the potential maximum of nearly $36 million for 3,590 alleged breaches put forward by the registrar.

Union secretary Janet Reah also agreed to pay a $10,000 fine for failing to appear before the commission on the day of the strike.

Janet Reah ignored both an order from the commission to call off the strike, and to appear before the commission on the day it was held.()

Despite the agreement, the commission could decide to impose a different penalty and is yet to indicate what it might decide.

In the course of this morning’s hearing, Chief Commissioner Stephen Kenner said the ANF’s conduct “borders on contempt in the face of the commission”.

He also indicated the commission’s desire for the ANF to promise to follow the law into the future, although the union would only commit at the hearing to abide by the commission’s orders for the duration of the current pay dispute.

Fine ‘appropriate, not oppressive’: IRC lawyer

In presenting the agreement to the court, the lawyer for the commission’s registrar, Maria Saraceni, described the $350,000 figure as “appropriate” but “not enough to be oppressive”.

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