MORE than 1000 Hunter nurses walked off the job on Tuesday in a 12-hour state-wide strike to fight for fair pay.
NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association (NSWNMA) members stopped work from 7am to 7.30pm on September 10, fed up with being ignored by the NSW government in their requests for a 15 per cent one-year pay increase.
NSWNMA John Hunter Hospital branch secretary Linda Mobbs said after 10 meetings trying to negotiate a rise, nurses felt they weren't being listened to.
"It's a very hard call for nurses to do a strike, but we have given the warning, and we're doing it just to try and get them to listen to us. We feel they're just not taking this seriously, but we certainly are," she said.
Labor has offered a 10.5 per cent wage increase to all public-sector workers over three years, including a mandatory rise in superannuation payments.
Premier Chris Minns said the requested pay increase was unaffordable and the government's existing offer was fair.
"I have to tell taxpayers across the state, if we implemented a 15 per cent, one-year increase in salaries, it would cost $6.5 billion, that's more than we spend on the entire police force in one year," he told Sydney radio 2GB.
Ms Mobbs said the increase would improve people's living and recruit and train nurses in NSW.
"We are living on a 2008 wage in 2024," she said.
"NSW has the largest number in Australia of nurses who are registered but not working. There's over 600 nurses out there who haven't felt it's worthwhile coming back to the public health sector."
"How are they going to stop young nurses or overseas nurses from seeking better working conditions in a different state? If I was looking to move to Australia and saw the pay rates in Queensland - even at the lowest rate it's $12,000 more than ours - why would anyone come to NSW?."
Over 350 rostered nurses were on strike from John Hunter Hospital accompanied with high numbers from Belmont and Maitland on Tuesday.
"We are angry and we are fed up," Ms Mobbs said.
Rallies were scheduled for 16 locations including Albury, Newcastle, Tamworth and outside the premier's Sydney electorate office, where a boisterous crowd accused Chris Minns of turning his back on emergency workers.
The union's general secretary, Shaye Candish, said Labor was "refusing" to fix the gender pay gap and deliver the state's largest female-dominated workforce fair and reasonable pay.
"It's clear the state government is choosing to pay nurses and midwives the lowest wages in the country, and it will continue to see our public health system fall apart if it doesn't pay nurses and midwives enough to stay in NSW," she said.
Three-in-four NSW public health workers are women, with median salaries 3.2 per cent below their male counterparts.
The union said the pay rise could be covered through capturing $3 billion in lost commonwealth health funding.
The strikes come as Labor juggles multiple battles with unions over pay, having convinced many in 2023 to take a snap, one-year deal for a four per cent wage rise.
Mr Minns said giving the nurses a 15 per cent bump would deliver a queue of other workers demanding an identical raise, including police, corrections officers and paramedics.
Minimal, life-preserving staffing was maintained in public hospitals and health services during the 12-hour strike.
Health Minister Ryan Park told a budget estimates hearing he would apologise to any patient who missed treatment due to the strike.
"I didn't say this was the path I wanted nurses and midwives to go down, I remained at the table," he said.
- With AAP
