Victorian public mental health workers are continuing our campaign for a decent enterprise agreement. 

More than 150 Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) members attended a state-wide meeting on 19 July at Victorian Trades Hall, where the union leadership informed members that we were having a “very different battle” with the state government than other public sector unions (including general nurses, public service and police) who had been able to reach deals. 

Lloyd Williams, HACSU state secretary, called out the government for not caring about mental health. He reported that, during negotiations, the government had complained of the higher cost of the mental health workforce (reportedly 1 percent more expensive than other areas of health). 

HACSU officials reported that agreement in principle had been made for around 17 clauses. However, sticking points remain, including decent staffing levels in high dependency units (HDU); leave equity for allied health staff; wages; long service leave for casuals; community team workload management; and a four-year deal (the general nurses’ union having agreed to an eight-year deal). 

The union officials said that, if the agreement was not made in the next few weeks, the campaign would be escalated to include night stoppages. During our last EBA campaign, managers were forced to staff some wards when nurses walked out during overnight shifts. 

On 26 July, we held our first two-hour stop-work at the Austin Hospital. Around 30 staff walked out and marched through the hospital grounds chanting, “No more cuts to mental health!”, “We’re angry, we’re loud, we’re HACSU and we’re proud!” and “1:2 in HDU!” One workmate commented that it was great to all be “in it together”. Another, as she joined the march, told me: “This is what we’ve got to do”.

Another state-wide meeting will be held in coming weeks to discuss the next step in the campaign.