With nearly 300 different enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) covering Victorian ANMF members – across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors – the Branch is routinely engaged in bargaining at multiple employers. These are just a few recent updates.
Healthscope: members endorse offer
After an intensive campaign that saw members at Healthscope take protected industrial action for the first time, Healthscope returned to the table and provided ANMF with an updated enterprise agreement proposal on 21 January.
This proposal was discussed in detail at a members’ meeting on the same day, with members ultimately passing a resolution to accept Healthscope’s proposal and to proceed to a formal ballot of all nurses and midwives to be covered by the Agreement.
The proposal features a 16 per cent wage rise over the life of the Agreement, which includes backpay to 1 July 2025. The agreement expires in December 2027.
The contentious salary packaging component – which members objected to based on the employer proposing to keep up to 90 per cent of an entitlement meant for employees – remains, but with the following protections to be included:
- the words ‘Employee Opt-in Only’ to be in the title
- replace ‘Employee agrees’ in clause 23.3B(f) with ‘Where an Employee elects to participate in salary packaging, the Employee agrees.’
- a clause requiring that ‘A copy of this clause will be provided to each employee that commences employment after the commencement date of this Agreement.’.
Cabrini: members endorse revised offer
Late last year, Cabrini’s proposed nurses and midwives agreement was not endorsed by the majority of staff who voted – 83 per cent of the eligible staff voted, with 64 per cent voting no – and in early January ANMF members endorsed the union applying for a protected industrial action ballot.
The threat of protected industrial action resulted in a revised offer from Cabrini that members accepted at a member meeting on Monday 2 February. This endorsement means that offer will now be put to a vote of all Cabrini nurses and midwives covered by the EBA.
Ramsay: first major private acute employer to offer public sector wages parity beyond November 2027
Bargaining for the replacement Ramsay Health Care enterprise Agreement continues. After several delays in providing a wages component to their offer, just before Christmas Ramsay tabled a proposal that includes a total 27.3 per cent (compounded) wage increase over four years – notably making them the first major private acute employer to offer public sector wages parity beyond November 2027 – when the final 9.43 per cent uplift under the public sector EBA is due.
This follows Maryvale Private Hospital, who in October became the first private employer to offer public sector wages parity beyond November 2027.
Ramsay’s wages offer:
| Timing | Increase |
| October 2025 | 2% |
| On commencement of Agreement | 1.6% average (between 0-8.9% dependent on classification*) |
| July 2026 | 3% increase |
| June 2027 | 2.8% average increase (between 1.7% – 3.1%*) |
| December 2027 | 8.2% average increase (between 0%-11.3%*) |
| May 2028 | 3% |
| May 2029 | 3% |
*Variable increases depending on classification to ensure alignment with public sector
Other components in the offer include:
- shift allowances to increase in line with wage increases
- other allowances increasing by 3% per year
- a new Lead Apron Allowance (rate to be confirmed)
- paid parental leave increased to 12 weeks for the primary carer and two weeks for non-primary carers
- Increase in the number of occasions when a statutory declaration may be used as evidence for personal leave (up from three to five occasions)
- Introduction of part day annual leave
- Clinical supervision for mental health nurses
- Improved workload governance provisions
- Introduction of casual overtime rates.
Once the outstanding matters are worked through, ANMF will arrange a statewide members’ meeting to allow members to consider a comprehensive offer.
Epworth Medical Imaging: third offer voted down
Nurses at Epworth Medical Imaging (EMI) in Geelong and Richmond have voted down their employer’s EBA offer – for the third time.
EMI nurses have not received a wage increase since July 2024, and their nursing wages are already well behind the nursing industry standard.
This new offer consisted of a 4.5 per cent increase, payable in the first full pay period on or after a positive vote, another 4.5 per cent on 1 July 2026 and 4 per cent on 1 July 2027. Instead of backpay, nurses were offered a one-off tax-free voucher of $295.
With the proposed agreement expiring in December 2028 and no corresponding yearly wage increase in July 2028, it would have meant that for the last 18 months of the agreement:
- there would be no wage increase; and
- staff wouldn’t be able to bargain for better wages until the end of 2028.
ANMF (Vic Branch) has been in negotiations with EMI since September 2024 and members, frustrated by their employer’s lack of action, felt it necessary to take protected industrial action in June to progress their claims.
Given that EMI is still not listening to members, in January ANMF filed for an arbitration in the Fair Work Commission under the federal government’s new intractable bargaining provisions.
This is something we can do if parties (in this case: ANMF, on behalf of members, and EMI, the employer) have been bargaining for at least nine months and are not making any progress.
As part of our application, we requested that the matter be expedited to the full bench of the Commission for a decision, and that there be no further negotiation. We have sought the following for members:
- 5 per cent per annum increases (original wage claim)
- industry standard lead apron allowance
- backpay dating back to the 12-month anniversary of the last wage increase.
