Professional Issues
An epic year and more to come
We have accomplished a great deal in the last 12 months, but there is much more to do, says NSWNMA General Secretary, Shaye Candish.
Nurses and midwives have achieved significant wins in the public health system, private hospitals and aged care over the last 12 months, and these gains have created opportunities for even more improvements, Shaye Candish told Annual Conference.
In the public sector, “after more than a decade of campaigning for nurse-to-patient ratios, it was no small feat to finally secure a commitment, in the lead-up to the state election, to introduce safe staffing ratios in five key areas of our Public Health System Award”.
“Achieving this has been testament to the unwavering resolve of public sector nurses and midwives to keep fighting day and night for patient safety, better patient outcomes, safety in the workplace, more support in the workplace, long-lasting changes to workforce planning, and investment in the future workforce.”
But, she said, the NSWNMA remains “committed to fighting for as long as it takes to achieve our full Award claim, covering all specialty areas, as endorsed by public sector members”.
The union will also continue to fight for better pay.
“The previous government’s arbitrary wages policy contributed to falling real wages, made it more difficult to attract and retain vital workers, and undermined wage growth across the broader labour market. These caps were also a violation of workers’ basic collective bargaining rights, and we look forward to them being abandoned for good in NSW.”
Great ratio wins in the private sector
There have been terrific wins in the private sector too, Shaye said.
“Thanks to the valiant efforts of members, we now have a commitment for minimum staffing ratios to be embedded in all wards, maternity, perioperative units, and the emergency department at Sydney Adventist Hospital (SAN), under a new enterprise agreement.
“Buoyed by the courage of their SAN comrades, and the high-profile public sector strikes, members embarked on historic protected industrial actions at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Darlinghurst and The Mater Hospital in North Sydney over a seven-month period.
“These led to an agreement that delivers ratios on most wards at St Vincent’s and the Mater, the improvement of staffing in all perioperative areas and improved wage increases over three years.”
Historic achievements in aged care
In aged care, massive strides have been made thanks to the perseverance, determination, and a willingness to win by our courageous aged care members, Shaye said.
Members have won a 15 per cent pay rise in a work value case heard by the Fair Work Commission, which has flowed through to all registered nurses, enrolled nurses, and assistants in nursing.
Importantly, she said, we convinced the federal government to commit funding for this pay increase to flow on to nurses on enterprise agreements too.
“This means, that for the first time in years, many aged care nurses will be earning wages competitive with the public and private hospital system. In some workplaces, aged care will even be paid more.
“In the May budget, the federal government announced a $11.3 billion taxpayer-funded commitment to cover the cost of the pay increase.”
Going forward, “we will be campaigning and lobbying for a worker voice to be developed into the legislation, undertaking a key regulatory role in this sector, through the enforce- ment of care minutes, which will be implemented from October this year”.
“We also achieved success in our campaign to secure a legal requirement for residential aged care facilities to have at least one registered nurse on duty, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
The challenges of COVID-19
During the pandemic our efforts to protect our members and patients led NSW Health to implement better PPE and fit testing, Shaye told conference.
This led to the NSWNMA winning the SafeWork Award for Outstanding Work Health and Safety support to members in the changed working environment due to COVID-19.
“Although the World Health Organization determined COVID-19 is now an established and ongoing health issue that no longer constitutes an international health emergency, its impacts are still being felt – particularly in the mental health and wellbeing of the workforce.
“Rather than pushing a destructive ‘individual resilience’ approach, which places the burden of a broken health system onto nurses or midwives, solutions-driven and system-wide reform is needed.
“We must see improvements in working conditions, as well as urgent investment in available services such as robust physical and mental health supports, more job control, and access to childcare.
“Our state government and the majority of employers need to understand that better conditions at work, lead to better conditions of care.”