News
From the President: AMA Federal Agreement Negotiations Update
Monday April 8, 2024
As our Board has recently delegated negotiation with AMA Federal to me, along with Dr Mary Wyatt and Dr Katharine Noonan, I will provide regular updates on this critical issue. Our team is available to any member who wishes to provide input or feedback, or ask questions. Off the bat, I wish to reaffirm our commitment to the sustainability of AMA Federal, whilst ensuring the same for the AMA (WA).
In the last Board update, you were informed that we had written to AMA Federal. We expressed surprise and disappointment at their sudden termination of the negotiation process and your membership of AMA Federal (not affecting your membership of the AMA (WA)) during what we believed to be good faith negotiations. However, we stated our commitment to a strong AMA federation, advised of changes to our negotiation team and offered to meet with them. They have agreed to this, so we are scheduling a meeting in Adelaide (chosen as a “neutral” location).
Whilst details of active negotiations must be kept confidential to respect the process and the rights of both parties, I can reveal that in my subsequent telephone conversation with the new AMA Federal Board lead for negotiation on this issue, Dr Andrew Miller (Canberra dermatologist, not our ex-President), our open-mindedness regarding what a negotiated outcome could look like was well-received, so I am optimistic that we will be able to achieve a good outcome if this spirit can continue in both directions. Whilst we would like the formal meeting to occur as soon as possible, it could be more than a month away, owing to unavailability of the Federal team. Nonetheless, we will work through some of the major issues out-of-session such that when we come together, we have hopefully already agreed on the majority.
I will continue to update you and again, please contact me or our team if you wish to discuss this.
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