Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens have been hit with industrial action for the first time in decades, with workers launching a strong push for better pay.
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"Gold-medal garden, but pays peanuts," says one of the signs now prominently displayed across the prize-winning parkland.
Other slogans on show across the Melbourne and Cranbourne sites are critical of management's "pruned pay offer" and argue "horticulture is not a hobby, it's a science".
The Royal Botanic Gardens recently slashed its offer of a pay increase to the overall workforce by 1.15 per cent to offset the request from weekend workers for 25 per cent loading.
Arborists, rangers, scientists and tour guides have voted to take action over the deal affecting 250 staff.
Horticulturalist Mal Jackson said the usually placid workforce had become more militant and was seizing the chance to push for a fair deal.
"Weekend workers here haven't had penalty rates for over 20 years," horticulturalist Mal Jackson said.
"The gardens have now made an offer to pay penalty rates, but to finance that they took money away from the offer for the rest of the staff, which won't even keep up with the cost of living."
Mr Jackson said the state government's hardline wage policy and the attitude of the gardens' management had "managed to anger a lot of people".
"This is quite a conservative workplace ... people tend to not get hyped up about things, but union membership has increased enormously throughout this process," he said.
The Royal Botanic Gardens has approached the Treasury Department for assistance, but was told it needed to negotiate "within the boundaries of the Victorian government wages policy".
The Napthine government's wage policy is for annual pay rises of 2.5 per cent a year, with anything above that to be traded for productivity offsets.
Tim Entwisle, the garden's director and chief executive, said it was "extremely disappointing" that industrial action was now under way.
"We have fantastic staff and I know this is difficult for them as well," he said.
"I believe the current offer is fair and we will continue to work closely with the [Community and Public Sector] union to resolve the situation."
CPSU state secretary Karen Batt said gardens staff were being "caught by a hardline anti-weekend penalty agenda".
The Royal Botanic Gardens were recognised with the Landscape of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival last October.
Ms Batt said the government was happy to take the international accolades "but won't fairly pay the very people who make this possible".
