A statewide strike and large, dynamic rallies have shown Chris Minns and his government our resolve as we pursue a just and deserved pay rise.

Kogarah didn’t know what hit it.

On September 10, a tsunami of nurses and midwives from all of Sydney’s main metropolitan hospitals converged on the city’s southern suburb to rally outside the Premier’s electorate office and repeat the message Chris Minns has so far ignored: we deserve a 15 per cent pay rise.

For all the good humour and energy of those present, there is still a palpable sense of frustration and impatience among nurses and midwives in the Public Health System with the government’s intransigence over our pay.

During the terrible ordeal of COVID-19 when nurses propped up a bursting hospital system and literally put their lives on the line to protect

the citizens of NSW, the Liberal- National government of the time rewarded them with a wage freeze and a callous disregard.

The NSW Labour opposition rightly took the Perrotet government to task for their dereliction of duty to the community, the health system and its workforce.

They promised better and nurses and midwives took them at their word.

Many of our members gave up their precious time and energy, despite the cumulative exhaustion built up during the arduous years of the pandemic, to help get the Minns government elected.

On election day, throughout the state, voters were met at polling booths by nurses and midwives advocating for change.

With the election of a new government there was an there would be change and together we would build a robust public health system to future proof the health of NSW citizens and that the workforce would finally be treated with the respect it deserves.

Of course, ratios are central to this, and we acknowledge the government’s commitment to implementing them. But pay is also important.

In fact, it is difficult to see how ratios can be successfully implemented in NSW unless nurses and midwives’ remuneration is competitive with other states.

We understand that the government has to juggle competing demands on the budget, but the lessons of the last five years are stark and critical.

The World Health Organization has made it clear that economic policy needs to align with health goals.

WHO has warned that health demands will continue to rise and there are increased risks of pandemics due to climate change.

When we say a 15 per cent pay rise is critical, this is no empty rhetoric, it is economic logic. Keeping the nurses we have and attracting more to fill ratios will require the government to recognise the labour market realities that are influenced by the wages paid in other states.

During the election campaign the government promised to reinvest productivity savings into wages. We found those productivity savings in a business case prepared by Deloittes. These efficiencies have been validated, we now wait to see if these will drive government policy. Disappointingly, it hasn’t yet driven a revised wages offer.

The government was also elected on a platform of gender equity and gender pay gap for the public service workforce has worsened under this government. Nurses and midwives are the biggest public sector workforce, so addressing our wages also addresses the gender bias that keeps women’s wages lower.

STOP PRESS

As the Lamp went to print the largest ever strike of nurses and midwives in NSW, with rallies outside Parliament House in Sydney, in Tweed Heads, Albury and other sites, saw 10,500 members demonstrate our power. As a result the NSW Government is now willing to negotiate! For more detail go to our website.

INVOLVING OUR PRESIDENT MORE

At our annual conference a significant resolution was passed to endorse a decision by Council to make the President’s position a paid role within the NSWNMA.

To date, the President’s role has been an honorary position, requiring upwards of 20 hours per week on a voluntary basis to ensure the strong governance of this union. This was not sustainable for the future growth of our union or for those people current and previous in the President position, who are also required to work in separate paid employment and with family responsibilities.

Current and future Presidents of the Association can now take an even more active role in supporting the goals of this union to focus their time and energy on the work of our members first and foremost.

No longer will the NSWNMA President need to balance their passion for unionism with the responsibilities of their paid employment; these will now be one and the same.