Public sector nurses and midwives from Gosford, Wyong and Woy Woy Hospitals rallied on July 23 to fight for fair pay.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members are demanding a 15 per cent pay increase to help fix the staffing crisis in the public health system, and to stop nurses and midwives leaving the industry or moving interstate for better pay and conditions.
To attract and retain experienced nurses and midwives, NSWNMA members say the NSW government needs to pay wages that reflect their vital work, and also respect and value the state’s largest female-dominated professions.
“Nurses and midwives have been underpaid and undervalued by successive Coalition state governments for more than a decade, and their wages are sitting at 2008 levels in real terms,” NSWNMA Woy Woy Hospital Branch Secretary Michelle Cashman said.
“I don’t think a lot of people have a real idea of how far behind our wages are.
“Other states have seen significant rises for nurses, but our pay remains at 2008 levels.
“I know of some nurses who are having to go to OzHarvest for food because they can’t afford it.
“In Queensland, for example, nurses are paid $10,000-$12,000pa more than in NSW – and that’s before penalty rates.
“I even know of some nurses who are moving to Queensland to work – because why wouldn’t you?”
Cashman said the poor pay was discouraging people from entering the profession.
“The young ones come in and see the wages and realise they could make a lot more money with a lot less stress in many other fields,” she said.
“We are proud of being nurses- we love what we do- but we are the backbone of our hospitals and the under-staffing is at a critical stage.”
Cashman said a 15 per cent rise would be a start in redressing the situation.
“It’s all very well for governments to say they respect us and are grateful to us – but we need that reflected in our wages.”
Cashman said there would be rallies in nurses’ own time at hospitals across the state in coming weeks.
“We are going to keep protesting until something is done,” she said.
“The situation is simply unfair.”
My son is one of these overworked and under paid nurses. Nurses are human beings, not machines. When they are constantly being pushed to the limit by ridiculous working conditions, they eventually burnout. Then they are unable to give their patients the quality care they want to provide for them.
The NSW government needs step up and introduce the staff to patient ratios that nurses have lobbied for, for so long. And their wages must be increased, to bring them into line with their interstate colleagues.
Nurses are the backbone of our hospitals. They deserve so much more than platitudes from our politicians!