Nurses and midwives across New South Wales went on strike for a fair pay deal on November 13.
More than 10,000 marched on NSW Parliament, in one of the biggest rallies of healthcare workers in the state’s history. Rallies were also held at more than a dozen sites across the state.
Nurses and midwives are demanding the Chris Minns Labor government grant them a 15% pay rise, which would bring their pay into line with other states.
NSW nurses and midwives are the lowest paid in the country.
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NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) president O’Bray Smith told the rally in Gadigal Country/Sydney that “You deserve more in ‘24.”
“It’s about time this government ensured there is a safe health system with enough nurses and midwives to care for their constituents, their families and future generations.
“One in every 71 voters is a nurse or a midwife, so they better listen,” she said.
Nannette, an operating theatre nurse from Kempsey, who recently moved from Queensland, told the rally she was “here to blow the whistle on NSW Health”.
She said the conditions in Queensland were far better than NSW. “We always had the required staff and staff were not expected to push beyond reasonable workloads … I always felt valued as a nurse.”
“In NSW we are seriously under-resourced. We don’t have the equipment we need, we don’t have access to education and support and we don’t have the staff.
“On top of that, staff are not being paid accurately or fairly for the work that they do.”
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NSW Police were offered a historic pay rise of up to 39% on November 11. Many nurses carried signs that read: “Pay me like a cop”.
NSWNMA general secretary Shaye Candish said the fact that nurses and midwives, “the largest feminised workforces in the state face appalling disrespect from the government is not a coincidence”.
Referencing the NSW Police pay rise, she said: “It’s clear there is one reality for male-dominated workforces and another for female-dominated workforces.
“This government is making the gender pay gap worse … it is the highest it has been in the past decade and that is directly attributable to the wages of nurses and midwives stagnating.”
[Watch the speeches outside NSW Parliament here.]
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