Public sector nurses and midwives from across New South Wales have held a strike for more than 12 hours on Tuesday 10 September, in a bid to send the NSW government a loud message.

Fed up with being ignored by the government, thousands of NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members walked off the job from 7am-7:30pm to fight for a 15% one-year pay increase.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Shaye Candish, said members were sick and tired of being undervalued, overworked, and not listened to.

“The state government is not bargaining in good faith. Not once in our 10 negotiation meetings has the government sat at the table and discussed nurses and midwives’ pay. That’s despite us finding significant cost savings through our Rapid Business Case,” said Ms Candish.

“Nurses and midwives shouldn’t have to foot the bill for safe staffing ratios in our public hospitals and forgo a decent pay rise – there’s no other workforce that’s been required to pay for their own resources.

“NSW Labor was elected on a platform of gender equity and supporting women in work. They’re now refusing to fix the gender pay gap and not deliver the state’s largest female-dominated workforce fair and reasonable pay.

“It’s clear the state government is choosing to pay nurses and midwives the lowest wages in the country, and it will continue to see our public health system fall apart if it doesn’t pay nurses and midwives enough to stay in NSW.”

Minimal, life-preserving staffing was maintained in public hospitals and health services during the 12-hour strike.