Allied health workers gathered on Graham St, outside GV Health, to demand better pay.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Allied health workers across Victoria are continuing their fight for better pay after they deemed a 24-hour statewide strike in June was not met with a satisfactory response.
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They are striking for three hours each week, leaving skeleton crews in place to continue providing care.
Allied health workers include physiotherapists, pharmacists, occupational therapists, podiatrists and medical scientists.
In April 2025, the Fair Work Commission ruled that the sector had been historically undervalued due to it being made up of a predominately female workforce.
Allied health workers are asking for a 36.18 per cent pay rise over three years to address the pay gap and for recruitment and retention issues to be addressed, particularly in regional areas.
Lil Muir, a radiation therapist from Melbourne and Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association delegate, travelled to Shepparton to be with striking workers in front of the Goulburn Valley Health building on Graham St on Friday, July 31.
Ms Muir said that while it may sound like a big increase, for Victorian allied health workers who were the lowest paid in the country “that brings us to treading water”.
If allied health workers from Victoria moved to NSW, their annual pay could increase by more than $40,000.
Ms Muir said that being so far behind interstate colleagues “makes recruitment and retention here really difficult”.
Physiotherapist Lyndall Bigland said that meetings with hospital administration had left allied health staff “not feeling respected or valued”.
Ms Bigland described one meeting where administrators walked out after only seven minutes without making any progress.
Only one offer has been made to allied health workers since negotiations began, which was rejected for being too low.
Pharmacist Shady Abdelmaksoud has worked at GV Health for more than five years and is frustrated by limited career opportunities.
“Why would you stay here when you can go metro and have opportunities to become senior?” Mr Abdelmaksoud said.
Mr Abdelmaksoud said the work of pharmacists was important because medications were the most common medical intervention, especially for ageing populations such as in Shepparton.
Mr Abdelmaksoud said he was worried that understaffing and high workloads could cause an increase in medication errors.
“Every year we lose 10 per cent of our staff,” he said.
“People feel guilty taking leave.
“You’re just trapped trying to maintain day-to-day activities.”
Allied health workers said they would participate in another 24-hour strike in the coming months if their demands were not met.
The allied health workers that gathered outside of GV Health on Friday, July 31 wore matching shirts in support of a pay increase.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
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