Members of Victoria’s public health workforce have walked off the job as their pay dispute with the state government escalates.
A 24-hour strike is currently underway across the region and throughout Victoria, with a rally to be held outside Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre from noon today (Tuesday, August 11th).
Executive director of the Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association, Andrew Hewat has spoken to our newsroom about why they’re undertaking the stop-work action, saying they don’t do so lightly.
“We’ve been bargaining with the state government through their representatives for ten months now and despite presenting us with one offer, we’re still a long way short of what we need to… respond to the claims that our health professionals have put in to address their wages and their working conditions,” Mr Hewat said.
While the government had previously put forward a wage increase of between 19 to 21 percent over four years, Mr Hewat argues it doesn’t address the “real value” of their members.
As such, they’ve asked the government to provide an offer that reflects “what our health professionals need”, as well as workload issues.
The Association is the official union which represents health workers at Victorian hospitals such as Bendigo Health, including radiographers, therapists, speech pathologists and social workers.
“So a very diverse mix, but also really important in terms of maintaining the integrity of the health system,” Mr Hewat said.
“It’s very rare that you go into a hospital and that you’re not seen by one of our professions…”
Hospitals have made arrangements to ensure that any disruption caused by the strike is minimal, while the government says negotiations are continuing “in good faith”.
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