The new Epworth Healthcare agreement came into effect on May 8 and started with an impressive increase of 4%.  There will be another increase of 2.2% in 6 months followed by three more increases over the course of the agreement – this an excellent result garnered from the hard work of Members, Delegates, Organisers, and Officials who contributed to the negotiations.

“Initially we were told that there would only be improvements to one or two non-cost items and a small wage offer as there was no money for our claims.” said VHPA Organiser, Jay Morrison. “However, Epworth staff made it clear to Management that they didn’t want excuses and were willing to take action in order to be treated fairly.  Due to the hard work and actions of the Delegates and Members there was a big movement on our Log of Claims during bargaining and we secured a fair number of our claims without needing to resort to Protected Industrial Action.”

Apart from the wage increase – the new EA includes a range of other improvements such as:

• An additional Grade 2 increment, $25 a week higher than the Grade 2, Year 4 increment;
• Inclusion of a Grade 4 classification for most disciplines;
• New classification descriptors and higher rates of pay for Medical Imaging Technologists, Nuclear Medicine Technologists and Sonographers;
• Professional Development Allowance of at least $100 per annum;
• Increase in Annual Leave Loading;
• Ability to purchase leave increased from 2 weeks to 4 weeks
• Provision providing for redeployment where possible when an Employee is facing redundancy;
• Increase in paid parental leave to 10 weeks for the primary care giver;
• A significant increase to the allowances, including the ‘on call’ rates;
• An additional 1% pay increase for Grade 1 Health Professionals on 8 May 2017;
• More favourable calculation of Long Service Leave when someone has changed their hours of work over their period of service;
• A significant re-write of some clauses to make them clearer and easier to understand and to reinforce your entitlements so that they’re less open to interpretation by management.

“There’s a lot to build on for the next negotiations and we’ve proved that being organised and visible on the ground gets real results for staff.  A big congratulations and thank you to all the Members and Delegates for their work” said VHPA Organiser, Jay Morrison.