Vic Mental Health Staff Strike for Pay and Condition Parity
Vic mental health workers take industrial action over conditions and pay parity
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Mental health workers at the frontline of the nation’s mental health crisis have reached boiling point, with pay and conditions forcing many to consider abandoning the critical profession.
Hundreds of Health and Community Services Union members, and supporters from other unions, took part in stop work action in Victoria today, marching through the streets of Melbourne in a desperate bid to raise awareness about workforce challenges driving people out of the industry.
“Some people are getting paid less for doing the same job as someone else with a different title. Unsustainable workloads, rising occupational violence and aggression risks and severe understaffing are rife. We can’t expect people to keep coming to work when it’s an unfair, and at times unsafe workforce,” Branch Secretary Paul Healey said.
“We just want a better deal, and the government has the power to do that. With better pay, and safer staff ratios, we could help people feel valued and protected as they care for the most vulnerable in our communities,” Assistant Branch Secretary Rebecca Sprekos said.
“Mental health workers love what we do. It is important and rewarding. But it is also tough. We need more support, or we face a workforce crisis as well as a mental health crisis,”Paul Healey said.
Workers want to wrangle in a better enterprise bargaining agreement, which includes pay parity for different roles performing similar tasks, and staff ratios to ensure people feel safe at work.
The Victorian Government has put forward an offer that fails to meet either of these concerns held by mental health workers, after several months of negotiations.
Mental health workers include mental health nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, health professionals, lived experience workers, administrative staff and many other disciplines.
“The suicide rate is double the road toll. People are under immense pressure because of the housing and cost-of-living crisis. Mental health workers need sustainable industrial solutions to provide the care and treatment people in our communities need,” Paul Healey said.
HACSU is warning industrial action will not stop until a better deal that fairly remunerates mental health workers and which protects workers psychological and occupational safety is reached.