The political and industrial environment we operate in has changed markedly and as our organisational capacity has grown, we are well placed to leverage the opportunities arising from these changes, NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish told Annual Conference.
Shaye said despite the undoubted progress the union still faces formidable challenges.
“We still have an incredible amount of work to do if we want to see a significant shift in the deeply ingrained injustices our nursing and midwifery professions face every day.”
She said there have been significant changes to industrial law at the federal and state levels that have created a more level playing field.
“We are finally starting to see the pendulum swing back in favour of workers.
“These changes were called for by the union movement and they give better rights to delegates, more opportunities to organise collectively for enterprise agreements and new options for workers in community interest sectors like healthcare and aged care.”
In NSW, changes to the Industrial Relations Commission mean that there will be a system that offers conciliation and arbitration and opportunities to specifically explore the impact of gender, and recruitment and retention when considering pay and conditions.
“As I see it, the challenge for unions now, is to leverage these new opportunities to advance the interest of workers, specifically, for nurses and midwives,” she said.
There has been a transformation within the union too with an increased emphasis on organising.
“ This type of organising is methodical, and systematic. This is what it truly takes to win, especially to win the type of improvements you all deserve. And we are starting to see the emergence of this approach coming to life in our campaigns,” Shaye said.
“We are setting pay ambitions campaign by campaign, that focus on pay parity with other states, or other employers, gender equity and the impact of historical undervaluing.
“In collaboration with the ANMF and our other sister branches we have filed our next work value case to address the historic undervaluing of care work as it relates to the Nurses Award.
“As always, there is more to do, but our recent gains on pay are significant and we are determined to ensure you are paid what you’re worth – we need to see wages that value, respect and reflect the work you do.”
PROGRESS IN PRIVATE HOSPITALS AND AGED CARE
Shaye said the union was focussed on campaigns for ratios across the Public Health System and private hospitals, pushing for clauses in enterprise agreements and awards that ensure compliance, with the aim of having organised members capable of enforcing conditions.
“In aged care, RN 24/7 is finally being realised after years of campaigning by this union.
“Care minutes have also commenced in aged care facilities ensuring minimum staffing levels, thanks to our campaigning. There remains work to do on this to ensure compliance and transparency.
“And we are pushing for care minutes clauses in enterprise agreements, or clauses that reflect care minutes as a ratio instead.”
STRONG MEMBERSHIP GROWTH
Over the past year, the union’s membership has grown by 3.5 per cent and is now just shy of 80,000 members.
“What we need to do now is turn our incredible growth and numbers into activism which is how we make our voice heard,” she said.
As well as campaigning for improved workplace conditions the union has been active in several areas of social justice including housing, the environment, closing the gap and addressing student poverty.
“The challenge for us is to ensure that we have members engaged at scale. We need to be bold and brave; we have to take risks, and we have to do things we haven’t been willing to do before. We have to be methodical in growing our power.”