To: The Hon. Mary-Anne Thomas, Minister for Health

Pay Junior Doctors for the hours we have worked!

Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Federation

Thanks to the solidarity from working people across Victoria who were mobilised by the VTHC campaign, tangible pressure was brought to bear on the department to honour the claims of our junior doctors and come to a mediated settlement.

Doctors in Training expect to work hard, but that commitment is not an invitation for them to be exploited. Doctors in Training have the same need of rest and right to remuneration as anybody in the workforce, and this campaign has reminded the government that Victorians will not tolerate a culture of abuse within the public health services.

Thousands of Victorian doctors have not been paid for the excessive hours they have worked. These doctors are having to seek their pay through the courts.

Our public healthcare system is currently running on systematic and consistent wage theft of doctors in training.

Enough is enough. Our healthcare system should not be relying on doctors in training working unreasonably long hours that they aren’t even being paid for.

It is time for the Minister for Health, Hon. Mary-Anne Thomas, to step in and ensure that Victorian health services stop relying on rampant overtime hours of junior doctors, and that these workers are all compensated for their work.

Why is this important?

More than 60 per cent of doctors surveyed have reported making a clinical error due to exhaustion. Our doctors are fatigued, overworked, and suffering from stress and mental health problems.

Overworked and underpaid healthcare staff leads to an unsafe and unsustainable healthcare system for both patients and the workers. Without proper support or work / life balance, many doctors in training are leaving the industry altogether.

Victoria’s junior doctors are not asking for a pay rise - they are simply asking to be paid for hours they have already worked.

Use the form to send a letter to Hon. Mary-Anne Thomas (Minister for Health), let the Victorian Government know that the wage theft from junior doctors needs to stop.