NSW public sector nurses and midwives will go on strike for 24 hours next week, after talks between the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) and the state government failed to reach an outcome on wages.
The second 24-hour strike will start on the morning shift on Wednesday 13 November, the NSWNMA has confirmed.
NSW public sector nurses and midwives are seeking a 15% pay increase. Thousands of nurses and midwives across NSW went on strike for 24 hours in late September following government inaction to offer a pay deal for its public sector nurses and midwives.
The union had been forced to take this action, after no progress had been made on pay during the four-week intensive negotiation period, said NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish.
“This strike action isn’t taken lightly, but the government has left us no other choice. Our members are extremely frustrated and disheartened. They have been holding on for an outcome on better pay, juggling challenging working conditions, trying to manage their bills in a cost-of-living crisis, and now they feel terribly let down.
“We have some of the lowest paid nurses and midwives in the country, yet we continue to see record activity in our emergency departments and across the public health system.”
The gender pay gap had grown in NSW and was now the highest in a decade, said Ms Candish. NSW nurses and midwives were leaving for Queensland and Victoria where wages were between 10 and 22% higher.
“Almost 70,000 public sector nurses and midwives across the state are worse off, and they will continue to slip further down the pay and conditions ladder, if this government doesn’t step up and deliver a decent wage increase for its single largest female workforce.”
Despite repeatedly saying that the wages cap had been removed, the government was refusing to put an offer to nurses and midwives that would address the underlying problems, said NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Michael Whaites.
“This contradicts the government’s claims that they are trying to fix the gender pay gap or that they had any intention of negotiating with us. Instead, they are just offering the same to our workforce as every other public sector worker and failing to take our issues into account.”
No formal offer was made by the state government on pay, night duty penalties or salary packaging, despite the NSWNMA identifying savings to fund its claims.
“The government says it’s delivering nurse-to-patient ratios and that it can’t provide a decent pay increase too. The government expects that nurses and midwives stay low paid in order to staff the hospitals.
“The very real risk is that ratios will be no more than a commitment on paper unless they deliver competitive and attractive rates of pay so they can recruit,” said Mr Whaites.
The NSWNMA has called on the Premier and Treasurer to intervene and direct new money into the health budget to address the interstate and gender-driven wage disparity impacting nurses and midwives.
“The government must find this new money, because if it doesn’t, the current recruitment and retention challenges will only worsen. The government cannot afford to lose any more nurses or midwives,” said Mr Whaites.
