A New South Wales nurses’ strike has prompted warnings to keep ambulances and emergency departments clear of minor cases as Labor feels the heat from public sector unions.
Nurses and midwives are walking off the job across NSW for 12 hours on Tuesday after demands for a 15% pay rise this year were rebuffed.
The premier, Chris Minns, denied suggestions the government had done nothing to fix nurses’ wages and said the pay increase they wanted would cost more than the police force’s entire annual wage budget.
The Industrial Relations Commission on Monday ordered the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association to call off the strike action.
But rallies were still scheduled to proceed in 16 locations including Albury, Newcastle, Tamworth and outside the premier’s Sydney electorate office.
The union isn’t happy that provisions for extra funding – for several health-focused promises powering Labor’s 2023 election win – can’t extend to wages.
Labor was “refusing to fix the gender pay gap” and provide the state’s largest female-dominated workforce fair and reasonable pay, said the union general secretary, Shaye Candish.
The union said an immediate 15% rise could be covered through capturing $3bn in lost commonwealth health funding.
Minns said the government’s offer – 10.5% pay rise over three years – was “fair” and should not be viewed as an insult.
“I have to tell taxpayers across the state, if we implemented a 15%, one-year increase in salaries, it would cost $6.5bn, that’s more than we spend on the entire police force in one year,” Minns told 2GB on Tuesday.
“We’re in a tight fiscal and budget environment but that doesn’t mean we’re offering zero, that’s not the case and I don’t want that to be percolating out in the community.”
Skeleton staffing will be maintained but longer waits in emergency departments and planned surgery cancellations are expected.
The health minister, Ryan Park, pointed the community to Healthdirect, urgent care services and telehealth GP clinics.
The union said members weren’t taking the industrial action lightly.
“They strive to provide compassionate, high-quality care to our patients every day, but the NSW government’s refusal to value us and put a decent offer on the table has left us with no choice,” Candish said.
The strikes come as Labor juggles multiple battles with unions over pay, having convinced most in 2023 into a snap, one-year deal for a 4% wage rise.
Minns said giving the nurses a 15% bump would result in a queue of other workers demanding an identical raise.
“Police, then teachers, then corrections officers and then those that work for paramedics would quite rightly knock on my door the very next day and say, ‘Well, we want 15% as well,’” he said.
“There’s a limit to how much that we can pay.”
Rail workers are also threatening to derail plans to bring driverless trains to Sydney’s south. The rail union on Monday formally applied to begin work bans on 18 September unless rail fares were reduced to 50c a trip.
