Voting on a motion at the 2023 ANMF (Vic Branch) Delegates Conference. Photo: Christopher Hopkins
An ANMF tradition more than three decades old, the Branch’s annual Delegates Conference is one of the key means by which members can make recommendations on any aspect of our professions to their elected Branch Council, and to democratically influence the direction of the Branch.
The popular annual conference welcomes delegates (Job Representatives and Health and Safety Representatives) from around the state to collectively discuss and debate motions.
A motion is an idea for change or improvement that comes from you: if you or your colleagues want to see change and have an idea to improve any aspect of your workplace or our professions, you should discuss it with your Job Rep and/or HSR to see if it’s suitable to be submitted as a formal motion.
If your idea is accepted as a formal motion, it will be debated by all the delegates at the conference – representing your colleagues Victoria-wide. Motions that get majority support are passed, and become resolutions. A resolution is an official statement of intent that will guide ANMF’s direction in future years.
The reason most nurses and midwives have many allowances and entitlements is because they started life as a motion. For example, being able to access long service leave at seven years, instead of 10, the change-of-ward allowance and an allowance for nurses who work in hyperbaric chambers – work that can find them subjected to pressures equivalent to being submerged to depths of 14m, 18m and even 30 metres for up to five and a half hours.
Hyperbaric allowance: from an idea to a motion to reality
Alfred ICU Job Rep Jasper Diaz, who along with his colleague Andrea Malkki submitted the motion in 2023 that led to the hyperbaric allowance, shares how it all went down.
‘Months prior to the Delegates Conference, Andrea and I sent out emails to ANMF members in ICU and the hyperbaric unit (HBU),’ he explains. In response, they collected several ideas from members – including a hyperbaric allowance, proposed by colleagues Brandon Adams and Tor Stueland.
Andrea then translated these ideas into motions that were disseminated back to members through surveys, and members voted for motions they liked. This resulted in several motions being submitted to ANMF to be debated during the conference.
Delegates conference
‘Before the conference, I sought help from the HBU team to help us defend this motion during the debate,’ Jasper says. ‘The HBU team wrote a summary explaining how hyperbaric work restricts their activities and movements, especially after working inside the chamber.’
During the conference, Andrea moved the motion while Jasper spoke to the rationale behind it.
‘There was a debate, including at least one delegate against it, who felt the restrictions faced by HBU nurses were comparable to other nursing roles. I explained why hyperbaric work is different; particularly the physiological risks of staff injury – including if the nitrogen they breathe in from the air at higher atmospheric pressures in the chamber results in bubbles forming in their tissues/blood when they come out of the chamber (decompression illness). I also talked about the post-pressurisation restrictions such as limits on altitude travel in order for the nurses to mitigate their risk of decompression illness occurring.’
Jasper notes that delegates from other facilities supported and also spoke for their motion. ‘Ultimately, it was a tough but respectful debate, which also strengthened the rationale for the allowance.’
How it felt to see it written in the EBA
‘Seeing it in black and white was a major relief,’ Jasper says. ‘This was not just about the money; it was a legal acknowledgment of the reality the HBU staff had been living for years.
‘During the ANMF-VHIA negotiations, then ANMF (Vic Branch) Secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick reached out for more supporting data to bolster the Branch’s argument on behalf of members. I put her in direct communication with Brandon, who along with our colleague Breanna Appleby provided her with a brief on hyperbaric oxygen therapy and nursing in this environment, supporting literature on hyperbaric staff injury risks and decompression illness, information on how often our nurses are going into the chamber, and what a hyperbaric allowance might look like.’
‘A work-related ear barotrauma [has] made it impossible for me to continue doing chamber work. This experience reinforced a key point: hyperbaric nursing is not “standard” nursing; the occupational risks are very real. The hyperbaric allowance isn’t a bonus, but a recognition of those risks’ – Jasper Diaz
How it’s going in practice
‘Following the finalisation of the EBA, the Workplace Implementation Committee (WIC) was established to ensure its clauses are properly enacted at the workplace level,’ Jasper says. ‘The WIC comprises ANMF industrial relations organisers, local ANMF job representatives and Alfred Health executives and employee relations staff. Regular meetings were held to address outstanding entitlements and allowances that had not yet been fully implemented.
‘During this period, my work arrangements changed. While I previously worked across both ICU and hyperbaric unit, I now work solely in ICU. This was not by choice – I loved working with the HBU team – but a work-related ear barotrauma made it impossible for me to continue doing chamber work. This experience reinforced a key point: hyperbaric nursing is not “standard” nursing; the occupational risks are very real.
‘The hyperbaric allowance isn’t a bonus, but a recognition of those risks,’ Jasper concludes.
Brandon, who still works in the hyperbaric unit, adds that the ‘allowance has been fully implemented now, [following] really good discussions with our current clinical nurse manager, who actively pursued its implementation and established pay codes.’
He says that the allowance has led to improved morale and a sense of being valued for the work that staff do inside the chamber; this in turn has helped with retaining experienced staff as well as recruiting new staff to the hyperbaric unit.
It was ‘a great team effort from the hyperbaric team,’ Brandon concludes, ‘and we’d like to say a huge thanks to Lisa Fitzpatrick, ANMF industrial relations organiser Simon Olden, Jasper, Andrea and the entire ANMF team for their advocacy in achieving success with this allowance in the EBA!’
