Searching for the hospital yardstick:A case study of private hospital productivity bargaining

Abstract

The decentralisation of Australia?s centralised wage fixation system has been seen asproviding opportunities for employers and trade unions to tailor workingarrangements to suit the needs of the workplace and to provide better paid long-termjobs. This paper details the productivity bargaining between the Private Hospitals?Association of Queensland and The Australian Workers? Union in 1995?97 inQueensland that led to the introduction of a number of productivity-based enterpriseagreements. The case study shows that productivity bargaining in the private hospitalsstudied remains focused on ?bottom line? issues where cashable savings can readily begenerated. The paper concludes with an examination of the lessons drawn from theproductivity bargaining process.