PROTECTED INDUSTRIAL ACTION BALLOT – SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME!
Healthscope nurses and midwives have sent a strong message to their employer to improve its offer in enterprise agreement negotiations, in particular to ensure Healthscope members achieve market comparable wages and conditions.
An impressive 97 per cent of members who voted in the ballot voted YES to authorise PIA.
This is a great outcome, particularly considering this is the first time Healthscope members have taken this step.
Well done to ANMF Job Representatives and active members for encouraging your colleagues to vote.
STAGE 1 – ACTION STARTS 7AM, TUESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2025
ANMF has given the required notice to commence the following actions at 7am on Tuesday 28 October 2025:
- Distributing and wearing ANMF campaign T-shirts, badges and stickers.
- Interrupting work to attach campaign material to clothing.
- Stopping work for up to 10 minutes to explain to patients and visitors the purpose of the protected industrial action and handing out ‘Dear Patient’ letters about the campaign and discussing it with patients and their visitors.
- Interrupting work for up to one hour to communicate with the media, post photos online, change backgrounds on electronic communications or write a message on social media about issues relating to enterprise bargaining (having regard to patient confidentiality and s.141 of the Health Services Act).
- A ban on redeployment from your home ward to another ward (or campus to campus).
- Refusing to provide information regarding who is taking protected industrial action.
- A ban on overtime directed or requested by Healthscope.
- A ban on working outside ordinary starting and finish times unless overtime is approved by Healthscope in writing in advance.
- A ban on recall work for circumstances other than emergencies.
- Taking the full period of all breaks.
- A ban on attending or participating in management meetings unless fully backfilled.
- Refusing to respond to any work-related emails, telephone calls or other communication from Healthscope, including during breaks, unless the communication directly relates to patient or staff safety.
- Including the following text in all work-related emails:
Nurses and midwives at Healthscope have worked through the pandemic while under enormous pressure. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation is trying to negotiate a new enterprise agreement with management on our behalf. We are asking for reasonable improvements to our working conditions, especially as our take home pay has lagged significantly behind the public sector health services and other private acute hospital providers. We are asking for safe staffing and workload standards and for these standards to be included in our enterprise agreement.
We ask for your support and understanding as we engage in protected industrial action in support of a fair outcome. See anmfvic.asn.au for more information.
Importantly, these actions are designed to ensure patient health, safety and welfare are not at risk.
Please note there can be serious consequences if you take unprotected industrial action, meaning you cannot start any of these actions before 7am Tuesday 28 October 2025.
WHO CAN TAKE THE PROTECTED INDUSTRIAL ACTION?
All ANMF members who are employed by Healthscope as registered nurses, enrolled nurses or midwives, regardless of whether you voted in the protected industrial action ballot, and regardless of how recently you joined the ANMF.
Any non-member who joins the ANMF will be able to take the action once they join, so please encourage your colleagues to join and get involved.
CAMPAIGN RESOURCES, RED T-SHIRTS AND SITE VISITS
ANMF Organisers will be distributing red t-shirts and campaign materials to each site in the coming days. For the most part, these will be provided to job representatives at each site to then distribute to members. ANMF Organisers will visit all Healthscope sites over the coming days and weeks.
Many of the campaign materials will also be available on the ANMF Healthscope campaign page: anmfvic.asn.au/healthscopeeba/healthscope-resources.
Resources include:
- How to implement protected industrial action
- A dear patient and family letter
- Nurses and midwives speak out flier (to help you write letters to the editor and call talkback radio)
- How to implement the social media work bans
- Information for senior nurses and midwives during protected industrial action
- The campaign message for your work emails.
TAKE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF YOUR ACTION
As soon as the protected industrial action starts, we encourage you to take photos and short videos of members wearing the campaign t-shirts or reading their letter to the editor so we can share these on ANMF’s social media channels and in our publications.
Please refer to the social media work ban guidance on the ANMF Healthscope campaign page. Remember to take your pics or videos holding the camera vertically as these are more useable for social media reels. Please don’t email photos or video as the quality will be reduced. Instead upload the original-sized files to our Healthscope Dropbox folder via anmfvic.asn.au/healthscopepics
THREATS OR HARRASSMENT
It is your right under the Fair Work Act to take the forms of protected industrial action listed above.
‘Protected’ means you cannot be dismissed or disciplined for taking these actions.
ANMF will support members who are threatened, intimidated or harassed.
To report any threats, intimidation or harassment, including those relating to pay docking, please follow this link: anmfvic.asn.au/healthscopereport
HARDSHIP FUND AND REPORTING PAY DOCKING
If we move to other forms of action, like shutting beds or stopping work, management will have the right to dock pay for the time of the stoppage.
The ANMF operates a member Hardship Fund for those experiencing serious hardship as a result of being involved in protected industrial action. Importantly, this is not an income replacement fund, but may provide some support to eligible members who face significant hardship as a result of the protected industrial action. More information about this process will be provided if we move to these actions.
GOT A CAMPAIGN ENQUIRY?
If you need to get in touch with your ANMF Organiser please contact them via records@anmfvic.asn.au.
Dorset Rehabilitation Centre – Camilla Ablitt-Collins
Geelong Clinic – Christian Sanderson
Holmesglen Private Hospital – Stephanie Bligh
John Fawkner Hospital – Lachlan Schacht
Knox Private Hospital – Linda Elliott
La Trobe Private Hospital – Julie Wearing-Smith
Melbourne Private Hospital – Jodie Dowler (relieving Lyndal Alston)
Northpark Private Hospital – Julie Wearing-Smith
Ringwood Private Hospital – Linda Elliott
The Melbourne Clinic Private Hospital – Linda Elliott
Victoria Clinic Private Hospital – Narelle Hayes
Victorian Rehabilitation Centre – Jenna Bell
