Hundreds of union members have staged a wild western stunt at the Victorian Labor Party Conference in Melbourne, as part of a campaign to wrangle better pay and conditions for mental health workers.
About 300 people pulled out cowboy hats and put them on, while music The Good, The Bad and The Ugly played at the conference on Saturday.
The Health and Community Services Union used the stunt to send a strong message to the Victorian Government: the crisis unfolding in the mental health workforce can no longer be ignored.
"Our members are burnt out, facing violence and dealing with out of control workloads. They have had enough. We need to make that clear," HACSU Branch Secretary Paul Healey said.
"All we are asking for is a better deal for workers who are at the coal face of Victoria's mental health crisis. These workers are passionate about what they do, but it can be very tough work and they need their pay and conditions to reflect that," Paul Healey said.
This latest stunt is part of a series of actions which have been taken by unions to pressure the state government to offer a better deal to mental health workers.
HACSU is again warning it will keep up the pressure until a deal is on offer that fairly remunerates mental health workers and which protects workers psychological and occupational safety is reached.
