2020 public sector enterprise agreement
EBA Campaign update 1
The Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2016-2020 reaches its expiry date on 31 March 2020. In accordance with that agreement:
- the employers (represented by the Victorian Hospitals’ Industrial Association or VHIA) are to commence discussions with the ANMF no later than October 2019
- the replacement agreement will have an expiry date of 30 April 2024 and contain the following wage increases (from the first full pay period on after the date below):
– 1 December 2020 by 3%
– 1 December 2021 by a further 3%
– 1 December 2022 by a further 3%.
ANMF is seeking comprehensive amendments
On 13 September 2019, ANMF provided to VHIA and the Department of Health and Human Services a comprehensive suite of amendments to the current agreement on behalf of our members.
These amendments were presented and discussed with Job Reps at the 2019 Annual Delegates Conference and subsequently endorsed by the ANMF (Victorian Branch) Council.
The improvements sought include the following:
- Including ‘midwife’ and ‘midwifery’ where appropriate, improved and added definitions around what constitutes a ward or a campus of a health service, easier resolution of classification disputes and objective criteria for the three level nurse unit manager structure
- Amendments to address gender equity such as superannuation contributions while on parental leave, parental leave counting as service for long service leave, improved paid parental leave, ensuring annual leave entitlements are comparable for full time and part time employees
- Further steps to address occupational violence and aggression, provisions to encourage good rostering practices including higher overtime rates for excessive continuous hours, higher overtime rates when not on-call, fatigue friendly roster options, reductions in short shifts, 8:8:10 rosters as the default shift lengths for all employees, clarification of when a meal break is payable.
- Reducing reliance on agency and casual staff through improvements to penalty rates for weekends and public holidays and employing enough staff to cover foreseeable leave
- Improved access to professional development leave, and specific allowances for those holding a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety
What happens next?
Preliminary discussions between the parties commenced on 7 October. However, before bargaining can formally commence your employer must issue a Notice of Employee Representation Rights (NERR) to all employees covered by the agreement.
This has been delayed due to IT outages affecting a substantial number of hospitals, but is expected to occur in coming weeks.
ANMF is a default bargaining representative and members need take no action regarding the NERR.