Vic nurses weigh up strike over car fee

Nurses thinking of striking over a wage agreement and a proposed $2 a day parking fee are "out of touch", a Melbourne hospital says.

Nurses and midwives at the Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne have been granted permission for industrial action, but will vote on whether to carry out stoppages from September.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation says about 1000 members have rejected a two per cent wage increase backdated to October, plus 2.5 per cent a year rises from October this year.

ANMF Victorian branch secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick says new arrangement would also impose a $2 a day parking fee on nurses and midwives, who currently park for free.

The ANMF is instead proposing a 3.25 per cent per year wage rise, which would expire in October next year.

"An amended offer from Cabrini needs to be fair and equitable," Ms Fitzpatrick said.

But Cabrini Hospital chief executive Michael Walsh said nurses at the hospital were already well paid compared with their public hospital counterparts.

"We think asking for 3.25 per cent when the CPI rate is 1.5 per cent is out of touch," he told AAP.

He said it was unfair to also not want to pay for parking.

"Our aim is to try and keep the impact as low as we could on our staff and our initial thought was a gold-coin-type approach, so that's where the $2 fee came from," he said.

Doctors would also have to pay the fee.

Mr Walsh said he hoped an agreement could be reached without the need for industrial action.

It was not anticipated any action would affect patients, he said.