CONCERNS over job security caused more than 10 Warwick Hospital staff to walk off the job for two hours yesterday morning - but the action paid off with the State Government and the Australia Workers Union (AWU) reaching an in-principle agreement late in the day.

The group of operational workers gathered in Victoria Park for the action in support of negotiations being made by the AWU and the government for a new enterprise bargaining agreement.

Warwick Hospital union representative Tony Fogg said the group was trying to send a message.

"The enterprise bargaining agreement will take away a lot of our work benefits - including job security," he said.

"We are not arguing over the pay, we are more worried about job security.

"This morning is about bringing attention to what is happening."

Mr Fogg said the main issue was with the potential for work to be outsourced when it could be completed internally.

"This is a small country hospital and it employs people who have been here for generations, not just people moving to town," he said.

Operational staff, including wardsmen, orderlies, catering staff, cooks, cleaners and laundry, from all across Queensland participated in the work ban which started last Friday.

Mr Fogg said he had worked at the hospital for 27 years and had only seen one similar action - more than a decade ago.

"But this isn't something we enter into lightly, we don't want to inconvenience the public, we just want to be able to come to work and do our jobs," he said.

"But when people in the upper echelons stop listening we have to do something to get them to take notice."

A spokeswoman for Queensland Health confirmed patient care and safety was not compromised.

Late yesterday, a joint statement from Deputy Premier and Treasurer Andrew Fraser and Health Minister Geoff Wilson said the agreement would be in-line with the way the government's wages policy was implemented.

"The State Government welcomes co-operation from the union which will mean an end to work bans as of midnight (last night)," it said.

"The agreement provides for a 3% per year increase (or $30 per week wage increase for lower paid workers) for three years, and includes agreements around productivity."

The statement said it would mean an average increase of more than $4900 over the period of the agreement.

"Today's outcome reflects the ability of this government to work with those unions who are willing to have constructive discussions in regard to workers' rights and fair pay," it said.

The agreement still had to be put to the members of the union for endorsement.

If endorsed it would be applied from September 1.

No one from the AWU was available for comment when the news of the agreement was released late yesterday.