Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Australia
 | |
| Predecessor | HSU East |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 2012 (current incarnation) |
| Headquarters | Ground Floor, 351 William St, West Melbourne, Victoria 3003 |
| Location |
|
| Members | ~5,000 |
Key people | Craig McGregor, Secretary Cheryl O’Connor, President Andrew Hewat, Assistant Secretary |
| Affiliations | ACTU, HSU |
| Website | vahpa |
The Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association (VAHPA) is the trading name for a trade union in the state of Victoria, Australia. VAHPA forms Branch No. 3 of Health Services Union Victoria (HSU Vic).
VAHPA has around 5,000 members covering health professionals working in allied health professions in the public, community and private healthcare sectors.[1] These professions include Medical Imaging Technologists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Radiation Therapists and others.
VAHPA was originally a state registered trade union in Victoria. The union had a period of slow and steady growth during the early 1980s. Like many of its state-based contemporaries, VAHPA merged with the larger federally registered Hospital Employees' Federation of Australia in 1986. HEF would later become the Health Services Union of Australia (HSUA) and finally the Health Services Union(HSU).
In May 2010, the branch amalgamated with HSU New South Wales and Branch number 1 of the HSU Victorian Division to form HSU East.
Following the HSU expenses scandal involving then senior HSU officials Craig Thomson, Micael Williamson and Kathy Jackson; in June 2012, HSU East was put into administration. Shortly thereafter the entity was dismantled, the component associations reestablished and fresh elections ordered.
Following the elections, the new leadership adopted the designation Victorian Health Professionals Association (VHPA) as an interim measure in keeping with the branch's long-standing association with the Health Professionals award. Finally, in August 2015, the branch changed its name to its current name.