“Without us, that hospital doesn't run”: Maroondah Hospital workers among thousands demanding a six percent pay rise

As a Patient Services Assistant at Eastern Health’s Maroondah Hospital in Ringwood, Tabatha Walters changes clinical pads and cleans rubbish and bedding every day.

However, since last Wednesday, she and her colleagues have been refusing to carry out some of these tasks, as part of escalating strike action pushing for fairer pay.

🪧Strength in numbers: Armed with placards, including many calling out state Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas for being “missing” from negotiations for 42 days, thousands of employees from more than 80 healthcare services took to the CBD’s main thoroughfares throughout Tuesday afternoon.

• The group of workers walked off work on Tuesday, before congregating outside the Victorian Trades Hall Council and then marching to the Premier’s office.

• The industrial action aimed to complement ongoing work bans, which include workers closing one in every four hospital beds and refusing to clean non-clinical areas. It will remain in place until Sunday, February 1.

🗓️A tug of war: The protest was the latest attempt to strike a deal with the State Government, after their enterprise bargaining agreement with the State Government expired in July 2024.

• Since then, the Health Workers Union (HWU) has rejected two wage offers, including an increase of 3.75 percent a year over the next two-and-a-half years.

Never idle: Healthcare worker Tabatha Walters said she still loved her job, 14 years after joining the team at Maroondah Hospital and about 25 years after joining the healthcare sector.

• 🗣️“You get to help people and make a difference,” Walters told the Eastern Melburnian, but mentioned she and her colleagues felt “undervalued”, arguing their current pay and offers from the state government did not meet the mark.

• 🗣️“It's frustrating to know that the government doesn’t care,” said Walters. “We're not getting paid for what we do and not looked upon as useful. Without us, that hospital does not run.”

🙅Refusing to work: Walters said having to follow work bans, including not cleaning up potentially infectious rubbish, was the last-ditch effort to get the government to come to the table.

• 🗣️“You feel like you're not doing your job,” said Walters. “We have to do this, we've come to a stage where we have no choice but to join in and stand together. We will escalate if they don't come to the party.”

⏭️Moving forward: Premier Jacinta Allan told the AAP she wanted the "good faith" negotiations to be resolved "as soon as possible" to ensure patient care was not impacted.

On Monday, Health Minister Thomas told the AAP she had not met with the HWU since December 10 and that talks between the Victorian Hospital Industrial Association and union were "supported" by her department.