Image: NSWNMA President O'Bray Smith (left) and General Secretary Shaye Candish (right) outside NSW Parliament on Wednesday 26 February
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has ruled out using federal funding to increase the wages of nurses in NSW. This decision comes amid ongoing protests and calls from the nurses’ union for higher wages in line with those offered in other states.
On Wednesday, nurses and midwives from across the state staged a two-hour picket outside NSW Parliament urging the Minns Labor government to allocate new funding to health to ensure fair and equal pay for frontline medical staff compared to other states.
The union’s demand for a wage boost comes amid growing concerns over staffing shortages and working conditions. However, Minister Park has stated that the state will not rely on federal funds to address the issue.
NSWNMA Criticises Government For Increasing Gender Pay Gap
NSWNMA General Secretary, Shaye Candish, said the NSW gender pay gap had widened because the government had chosen to disrespect and ignore its largest female-dominated workforce.
“The NSW gender pay gap is the highest it has been in more than a decade, sitting at 7.2%. Nurses and midwives make up the largest proportion of female workers in the state’s public sector, so if the government was serious about driving the gender pay gap down, it would deliver a proper pay rise. Instead, it’s showing it doesn’t value us,” said Candish.
Nurses and midwives have been demanding a pay increase for the last eight months. Some of their demands include:
- A 15% pay rise for all nurses and midwives, plus superannuation, starting July 1, 2024
- A wage rate that is competitive with those offered in other states
- An increase to the night duty shift penalty rate to 30% of the base rate of pay
- Increasing sick leave entitlements to 20 days a year
Health Minister Ryan Park Refuses to Revise Nurses’ Wage Proposal
While addressing budget estimates on Thursday, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park denied any improvement to the wage offer of 10.5% over three years, despite the federal government’s recent $1.7 billion funding announcement for public hospitals.
“No, I haven’t, and I want to be very clear about this … but I’ll be just very transparent that money cannot and will not be used for that,” Minister Park said, as reported by news.com.au.
“You could have this amount for essentially one year while your wages are adjusted, and then it has to go back, because there’s not a flow on. We did not secure a five-year deal,” he added.
“About 65 cents in every dollar that we fund in hospital activity goes to staffing related costs, and the largest proportion of that is obviously nursing, so there are a number of reasons why we can’t just do that.”
The NSW Government’s limited pay offer to nurses follows its offer of up to 39.4% over the next four years to NSW police officers last November.”
“The government hasn’t moved from its original application and continues to think that 3% is enough to fix the gender pay gap and the staffing crisis in NSW,” NSWNMA said in a statement.
“The government could put an end to this dispute right now by sitting down and negotiating a fair outcome with us,” they stated.
A NSWNMA passionately denounced the situation stating on Wednesday, “We call it out for what it is. That is unfair, unreasonable misogyny.”
Meanwhile, during budget estimates, Premier Chris Minns stated, “We don’t have those funds” in response to the proposed 15% increase in the first year.
NSWNMA General secretary Shaye Candish emphasised the government’s reluctance to negotiate, stating, “We know that this govt does not want to sit down and negotiate with us we must change their minds on that.”
Candish added that momentum was on the NSWNMA’s side, and urged everyone to take action, saying, “We need everyone out there, everywhere.”
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