Hello members,

We’re taking part in a national day of action tomorrow from 8am-5pm AEDT, an online picket line to hold the Morrison Government accountable to ensuring the livelihood of all workers. Throughout the day, union members will take actions together to demand a guaranteed wage subsidy for ALL workers. Join in tomorrow via our Facebook page.

Mental Health:

We’ve heard from St John of God Health Care that they will be scaling back non-urgent health services, to ensure there is sufficient capacity to manage emergency health care. If members have questions about the shut downs and your industrial rights, please contact HACSU Assist on 1300 651 931.

Safety concerns were raised at Forensicare over the past weekend by HACSU members. We have written to Forensicare officials raising these concerns to ensure they will be addressed as soon as possible. We’ll provide further updates to members when we have more information to share.

We have also received further correspondence from Barwon Health to note that after receiving our letter, they will be collapsing community teams to manage likelihood of risk of infection spreading. We welcome these changes and suggest any members who are concerned about similar circumstances at other worksites to contact us.

Disability:

In terms of the issues raised on Friday regarding Farm Vigano and the possible infection, we are still working through these issues and we have provided our concerns to the HSU National Office who will be talking to Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt the concerns both at Farm Vigano but also in mental health and disability sectors generally.

State Secretary Paul Healey has advised that HACSU Officials have told the Department of Health and Human Services they have until 9:30 tomorrow morning to respond to the major concerns raised in the letter we sent last week. We will provide members with further information when it becomes available.

Over the past weekend, the Federal Government announced increased funding for mental health services to improve access. The majority of this funding will go to phone-based help line services. HACSU members are encouraged to access support where needed during this challenging time; the Government has also advised that a portion of this mental health funding will be focussed on supporting frontline workers.

Finally, the Victorian Government has called for health professionals who aren’t currently working in the sector, including nurses, allied health and other clinical practitioners to apply to work in services. Our healthcare sector will continue to be stretched over the coming months and workers will burn out. If you’d like to apply to support this workforce during this time of need, please go to: https://healthworkforceresponse.dhhs.vic.gov.au/

We’ve also received several enquiries from people reaching out to volunteer to work in the disability sector. Thanks to those who have already volunteered; please contact HACSU if you are interested in applying hacsu@hacsu.asn.au

In unity,

HACSU.