NSW Nurses are on strike again with public rallies planned as they call for pay rises.
The 24-hour stop-work action by nurses and midwives on Tuesday will affect elective surgery and cause delays for some patients, while support for life-saving care is not expected to be impacted.
“The state government could have stopped this industrial action from occurring by coming to the table with an improved offer, but it has chosen to ignore us repeatedly,” NSW Nurses and Midwives general secretary Shaye Candish said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Nurses and midwives are outraged by the government’s unwillingness to negotiate beyond its insulting three per cent offer, especially since we found the savings to fund the pay rise,” she said.
Nurses demonstrate outside NSW Premier Chris Minns’ office in Kogarah, Sydney, for a 15% pay rise.Credit: Janie Barrett
Industrial Relations Commission president Ingmar Taylor had not yet examined the union’s argument for pay rises, but recommended an interim deal and four weeks of “intensive discussions” in a bid to broker a deal.
Health Minister Ryan Park said officials had sought to contact patients with surgery scheduled to make alternative arrangements due to the industrial action.
“I acknowledge the dispute between the government and the association has a way to go,” he said on Monday.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association action started at 7am in the union’s second major stop-work action since Labor came to power in March 2023.
The strike is part of a union push for a 15 per cent, one-year pay rise, a demand Premier Chris Minns has said is unaffordable.
Minimal, life-preserving staff levels will remain in public hospitals and health services during the strike, the union said.
AAP
