Members of the Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association are taking industrial action at sites including Collins St, Caulfield, Camberwell, East Melbourne, Kew and Vic House.
The Industrial Action includes work stoppages affecting appointment availability, patient wait times and other aspects of patient care - all due to the intransigence of I-MED management.
On 23 June the Fair Work Commission rejected the employers proposed enterprise agreement, citing concerns around the employer's failure to adequately explain changes to the classification structure.
Commissioner Oanh Tran found that I-MED misled employees, presenting only the positive aspects of a newly consolidated agreement while failing to disclose detrimental impacts. Duties such as teaching or tutoring were to be shifted to lower classifications, leaving some workers worse off.
This case is one of the first major tests of new provisions introduced under the Albanese Government’s Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation—specifically section 188(5) of the Fair Work Act, which gives the Commission discretion to overlook minor procedural errors. However, Commissioner Tran ruled that I-MED’s omissions were not minor and could not be disregarded.
In doing so, she reinforced the central principle that genuine agreement must be based on fully informed consent—a principle VAHPA has consistently fought to uphold.
Now, VAHPA members are fighting for a new agreement with better pay increases and improvements in conditions.
Chief amongst the conditions sought by staff is an increase in Annual Leave to 5 weeks per annum, a
condition already enjoyed by Allied Health Professionals across more than 20 VAHPA Agreements, and
nurses.
Despite continued feedback from staff, I-MED have indicated they are once again going to put their sub-par
Agreement out to the vote, minus the key improvement staff are seeking. I-MED are saying they can't sustain a decent pay rise or additional annual leave for staff... but the company is projecting a $230million profit and is likely to be purchased for $3billion.
Power to the workers!