Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association (VAHPA) members rallied outside the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre as part of their strike action on Tuesday 11 August, calling on the Victorian government to deliver reasonable wage increases and address serious safety concerns related to workloads.
The workloads of allied health professionals are not protected by the type of ‘ratios’ that establish nursing staffing levels. In the absence of similar protections, unsustainable allied health worker workloads in the private sector are contributing to burnout and workers leaving the industry entirely.
The call for safer workloads and increased wages form part of the VAHPA log of claims in their negotiations with the government for a new enterprise agreement. VAHPA is also calling for changes to grading classifications to improve career progression and workload protections. After 11 months of bargaining with the government, they are no closer to achieving agreement.
VAHPA chief executive Andrew Hewat said their members employed in Victoria’s public hospitals — which include radiographers, sonographers, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, social workers and other allied health professionals — were left with no choice but to take action.
Despite predicted impacts to patient care, VAHPA ensured that exemptions were made to ensure critical treatment continued and staffing was preserved in key areas including oncology, emergency, obstetrics, and paediatrics.
Mr Hewat said that the government’s “completely inadequate” offer “barely keeps us above minimum award rates” once increases as a result of the Fair Work gender-based undervaluation review were taken into account.
“These professionals help patients recover from surgery, regain their mobility, communicate, manage chronic illness, safely leave hospital and avoid being admitted again,” he said.
“The Fair Work Commission has confirmed their work has been historically undervalued because it has traditionally been performed by women, yet the Government’s offer still falls well short of correcting that injustice.” Mr Hewat said the government “cannot keep asking this predominantly female workforce to settle for less than their work is worth”.
VAHPA’s strike action was part of a series of strikes from multiple sectors of the workforce employed by Victoria’s public health hospitals.
Two days after VAHPA’s rally, doctors took historic strike action of their own, with the Australian Medical Association Victoria (AMAVIC) calling for a 30% pay rise over four years and conditions to address similar serious safety concerns over fatigue, excessive shift lengths and workloads.
Also taking industrial action in the past few months were pathology workers, pharmacists and other members of the Medical Scientists Association of Victoria (MSAV), who are calling for deal similar to that won by nurses in their last EBA — a 28 per cent pay increase over four years.
The turnout for each of these actions demonstrates the growing frustration across the public hospital workforce. Despite repeated attempts by VAHPA and MSAV to negotiate fair outcomes, members continue to face workforce shortages, escalating workloads, recruitment and retention challenges, and pay rates that lag behind comparable jurisdictions.
Each union and their members continue to call on the government to show workers fair recognition and respect for the services they provide to our public health system.