NSWNMA members Kylie Norris, Raj Janday and Olivia Brasington at a 2024 protest in Griffith. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Some NSW healthcare staff are receiving better pay and conditions after voting to accept an interim offer from the State Government.
It means public nurses and midwives are being handed a 3 per cent pay increase and improved working conditions, ahead of formal arbitration later this year.
NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) General Secretary Shaye Candish said their acceptance of the interim offer would put money in members’ pockets now.
“Nurses and midwives are struggling to pay their bills in this cost-of-living crisis so any financial relief is welcomed,” she said.
“Improvements to rosters will also provide staff with greater work-life balance.
“However, this is not the end of our pay and conditions fight.”
Under the agreement, public sector nurses and midwives will take home an interim three per cent wage increase, as well as enhancements to their working conditions.
The pay increase will be paid retrospectively from 1 July 2025, and they’ll get a 0.5 per cent increase to superannuation.
Their night shift penalty rate will also increase from 15 to 20 per cent, effective from 1 July 2025.
This will also no longer be a part of future arbitration proceedings.
But it’s something NSWNMA South East Regional Hospital Branch President Di Lang says doesn’t go far enough.
“It has been 15 per cent from 1972 … it hasn’t budged.”
She and her colleagues will also receive two consecutive days off, while no night shifts can be scheduled before annual leave starts (unless requested).
A published roster also can’t be changed without consultation.
“Those are little wins – doesn’t cost the government anything, but it really does help the nurses and midwives who are working manage their work-life balance,” Ms Lang said.
For Ms Lang, improving pay and conditions would be key in not only staff retention, but attracting new graduates to the state (as well as bringing back those who have left the profession).
“We need to be able to entice people to come and work in NSW,” she said.
“If we have a better pay increase, we may just be able to get them. A lot of them are in Victoria or the ACT … we might advertise [to bring] them back.”
She pointed to the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital, which is being built in Moruya, and recently announced plans for nearly a dozen southern NSW hospitals to adopt new staffing levels, as examples of situations where the state could be made more attractive.
The agreement follows an eight per cent increase to pay (including a one per cent increase to superannuation) for nurses over the first two years of the Minns Government.
NSW Minister for Health Ryan Park said the interim agreement was a step towards fixing what he described as a “health workforce crisis”.
“This vote is a major step to addressing the chronic shortage of nurses in our hospitals but there is more to do.
“We have an independent process underway to determine what we need to do to ensure NSW nurses have the pay and conditions needed, including to address the gender pay gap that exists.
“This was opposed by the Liberals – only Labor can keep getting on with the job of improving our hospitals and recruiting more health workers.”
The interim agreement doesn’t resolve the pay dispute, with the case set down for a six-week hearing in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission from late September.
The union will be pushing for a 35 per cent pay increase (to come in over several years), which Ms Lang said would bring it into line with other states.
“After 12 years of the previous government and the wage gap, we’re so far behind the other states.
“They might have got a 3 per cent increase one year and two [another] … We need a big jump to catch up with them.”
She also said there would be continued calls for 20 days of sick leave (up from the current 10).
