Healthscope nurses and midwives to hold stop-work rally
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch)
WHAT: ANMF (Vic Branch) members’ four-hour stop-work and community rally for fair pay and conditions
WHEN: Thursday 20 November, 12.45pm – 4.15pm. Rally to start at 2.00pm.
WHERE:
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Melbourne: outside Melbourne Private Hospital, Royal Parade, Parkville
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Geelong: outside Geelong Clinic, 98 Townsend Road, St Albans Park
Healthscope nurses and midwives will for the first time stop work for up to four hours on Thursday 20 November to rally for fair pay and conditions.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) has been negotiating a new enterprise agreement with Healthscope management on behalf of 2600 members working across Healthscope’s 12 Victorian healthcare facilities – 11 in Melbourne and one in Geelong – since June. The current enterprise agreement expired on 30 June 2025.
ANMF is seeking market-comparable wages and conditions and is opposing an unprecedented move by Healthscope that would see up to 90 per cent of any employee’s salary packaging benefit be redirected to operational costs, including servicing corporate debt, rather than into the pockets of nurses and midwives.
Healthscope’s wages proposal would see rates of pay more than 10 per cent behind public sector rates of pay by the end of 2027. In December 2027 the most experienced grade 2 nurse or midwife will earn $2355/week ($61.97/hour) in the public sector and a Healthscope nurse or midwife at the same level would earn $2147.65 ($56.51/hour). ANMF is asking Healthscope for wages that maintain parity with the public sector.
Members began stage one protected industrial action on Tuesday 28 October, including wearing red campaign t-shirts at work; talking about their campaign with patients, families, the media and the community; a ban on redeployment; and administrative and non-clinical documentation bans. The stop work is an escalation of their protected industrial action.
ANMF (Vic Branch) Secretary Maddy Harradence said: ‘Nurses and midwives only take industrial action as a last resort when their employer is not listening, and we reassure patients and their families that their health, safety and welfare are not at risk. Healthscope nurses and midwives deserve a fair and reasonable enterprise agreement without having to compromise any entitlement to salary packaging to achieve it.’
About us:
The ANMF (Vic Branch) has over 111,000 members – nurses, midwives and aged care personal care workers – across the Victorian health and aged care sectors.
Contact details:
Media contact: Liz Ascroft 0498 556 231