Junior doctors are suing Victorian public hospitals in a bid to reduce their work hours and recover unpaid wages.

A claim against Peninsula Health has already been filed in the Federal Court, and there are lawsuits planned against more than 30 health services.

Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation’s Victorian president, Roderick McRae, says there’s “almost a willful blindness” towards working long hours without pay.

He says he once “started 7am on a Friday and went non-stop through to about 7pm the following Monday” while working as a junior doctor in the 1980s, and the situation hasn’t improved.

“The stories I hear as the president of the relevant union is that nothing has changed,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“Over the last 30 years, the technology has advanced, the community expectations for their management in Victorina public hospitals has advanced, and if anything it has only become harder.”

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