“We have huge community support for our demand for fair pay and conditions for nurses,” Dustin Levick, a representative of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, told Green Left outside parliament on March 20.
Levick initiated a petition calling on NSW parliament to deliver a substantial pay rise and better working conditions for nurses and midwives in the public health system. It was signed by more than 38,000 people.
The overwhelming response, which almost doubled the 20,000 signatures needed to trigger a parliamentary debate, shows just strongly people feel about this problem.
“The government is under pressure,” Levick said. “It is now time to act on our demands.”
The petition calls on the Legislative Assembly to address the pay disparity for nurses and midwives in NSW compared to their interstate counterparts.
“Despite their essential role, NSW nurses and midwives earn significantly less than their interstate counterparts, affecting workforce retention, recruitment and patient safety.”
It said the system is at “breaking point”, as the government has admitted spending more than $200 million on nursing overtime compensation and $160 million on agency nurse staffing.
“Patients are suffering due to this under-resourced healthcare system. The health minister acknowledged the healthcare system’s greatest challenge is attracting and retaining staff.”
It said nurses and midwives are leaving the state seeking better pay and conditions including “mandated shift-by-shift, nurse-to-patient ratios”.
It said that while safe staffing levels are being rolled out, the scale and pace “means the vast majority of nurses and midwives have not felt their impact and will not for some time”.
It called on the Legislative Assembly to: provide a 15% pay rise; develop and commit to a plan for interstate pay parity; ratios in every public health service and other retention measures for nurses and midwives; and to publicly express its support for the “skill and value of nurses and midwives”.
Greens MP Jenny Leong presented the petition to parliament, saying as nurses and midwives look after us, “we should look after them”.
Labor MPs during debate defended the limited pay rises already offered. They also deflected the issue by condemning the Coalition MPs that had imposed a public service wage cap for more than a decade and attempted to privatise five public hospitals.
Dr Joe McGirr, Independent MP for Wagga, said giving the wage rise would be a win for the whole community, “especially the patients”.