Mobilisation

Mobilisation is the participation by workers in industrial action. It lies at the heart of the organising model. The ANF (Vic) is a union with a largely professional membership of nurses. It is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions, but not with the Australian Labor Party. Traditionally a conservative union, in 1983, nurses began the process that led to the adoption of a strategy of mobilisation: they voted to remove the union’s ‘no-strike’ clause. Nurses walked off the job for the first time in 1985. In 1986, an historic 50-day strike took place. Although the strike was a major achievement which resulted in wage gains and a clear career structure for nurses, victory came at a price. Mass withdrawal of labour from hospitals caused divisions in the ANF(Vic), the union movement, and public opinion. When elected in 1989, Morieson and her Council set about adapting the mobilisation strategy of the organising model to suit the aspirations of its professional membership.

Mobilisation strategies: Nurse-patient ratios

Under Belinda Morieson and Lisa Fitzpatrick, nurses were encouraged to view themselves as defenders of essential public services and the quality of patient care. Public sympathy was sought by extensive publicity that linked nursing shortages to a decline in health standards. Higher nurse-patient ratios were achieved for over two decades by means of hospital bed closures and cancellation of elective surgery.

In 2000, nurse-patient ratios became central to the ANF’s log of claims. After a period of concerted industrial action by nurses across the State, including thousands of bed closures, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission issued the “Blair decision”, in which the Commission introduced a mandatory nurse–patient ratio of 1:4 in all “A” Hospitals; different ratios were introduced in level B, C, and D hospitals. Continuing attempts by successive governments to undermine the ratios resulted in an ongoing series of mobilisation campaigns, in the form of state-wide mass meetings, stop-work meetings and overwhelming support for bed-closures.

Under Fitzpatrick, however, mobilisation in defence of nurse-patient ratios - the Respect Our Work Campaign, 2011-2012 - also involved unprotected walk-outs and threats of mass resignations. A quarter of a century after the 1986 Strike, the ground had been prepared for overt and risky forms of industrial conflict.

ANF EBA 2011, Respect Our Work Campaign, Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) [external website] (pdf).

James L. Tierney and Christina Cregan
The University of Melbourne

Images

Title: Reuniting nurses. Morieson's campaign poster c.1989
Date: 1989
Source: Archives of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) Library

Mobilisation

Mobilisation strategies: Nurse-patient ratios

Images

Read More