The WA government has been forced to make an improved wages offer for public sector workers for the third time in less than a year after intense pressure from unions.
The new offer would see those who earn less than $104,000 paid an extra $60 per week and receive a one-off $3,000 bonus.
Those earning more than $104,000 would receive a 3 per cent annual pay rise and a one-off $3,000 sign-on bonus, effectively getting an additional $500 cash bonus to what was offered in late July.
If formally accepted, the latest offer would last for two years, and workers would be back-paid to the point when their previous agreement expired.
Last week the July offer was rejected by two of the unions which had been loudest in pushing for it – the health support staff in the United Workers Union (UWU) and the Health Services Union (HSU).
Both had increasingly been looking towards disruptive industrial action, particularly in hospitals, putting pressure on Premier Mark McGowan to resolve the issue before an already strained health system was further affected.
Owen Whittle, secretary of the state's peak union body, said the change showed the government had been "forced to listen".
"Public sector workers and their unions have fought hard for better pay and conditions for public sector workers," he said.
"At this point, the improved offer is just a policy. The real conversation starts when the government makes written offers to their workforce."
Offer 'generous and fair': Johnston
In a statement, Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston said the government hoped to reach an agreement with public sector unions in the coming weeks.
"We continue to listen and negotiate with unions in good faith to deliver a generous and fair offer, one that is reasonable and affordable, but particularly delivers for our lowest paid workers, which has always been a priority for the McGowan government," he said.
"We are hopeful in the coming weeks we will be able to reach an agreement with more public sector unions, to add to the SSTU (State School Teachers Union) and other unions that have already agreed to our offer."
Less than a month ago, Bill Johnston was heckled and booed as he addressed a rally of more than a thousand public sector workers outside state parliament.
At the time he told the crowd he believed the previous wages offer was "fair" and said it was what the government could 'afford'.
Offer gives 'relief and certainty': union
The UWU's public sector coordinator Kevin Sneddon said his union would continue bargaining with the government on different enterprise agreements before putting the offer to its members for a vote.
But he said it was "heartening" the government had acknowledged the struggles of workers in health and education.
"The ever-increasing cost-of-living is really starting to bite and is doing nothing to retain workers in our schools and hospitals," Mr Sneddon said.
"This new offer will provide a lot of relief and certainty for the public sector workers the United Workers Union represents.
"The vast majority of UWU members will be seeing a 10 per cent wage increase over two years, in addition to an immediate $3,000 one-off payment."
Doctors, teachers, and transit guards will automatically receive the latest deal, having already signed on months ago when the wages offer was 2.5 per cent.
CPSU/CSA branch secretary Rikki Hendon said things had improved significantly in 12 months amidst the threat of strike action, but the public sector union was still assessing the offer.
"Whether the shift is good enough is a matter for our membership to consider carefully, and they will be able to have their say in the coming days,” she said.
"We continue to be frustrated by the government's process. We want a return to genuine bargaining, not the continual updating of wages policy to set new wage caps.
"Wages policy itself does not constitute an actual pay offer from government, and we will wait until our membership has a formal offer on the table before making any decisions."
Rallies followed by revised offers
For the first four years of the McGowan government, public sector workers were given a flat pay rise of $1,000 a year, to help repair the state's budget.
That changed in December last year when workers were offered a 2.5 per cent increase a year, plus either an extra 0.25 per cent or a sign-on bonus of $1,000.
But as negotiations got underway and inflation soared to above 7 per cent, public sector unions' opposition to the offer grew louder.
After a series of rallies outside public hospitals, where members of various unions that have formed the Public Sector Alliance helped boost numbers, the government came to the table with its second offer.
The 3-per-cent-a-year increase, with a $2,500 sign on bonus, was not initially shot down by unions, although they did press ahead with a rally at Parliament House last month.
The rally attracted thousands of public sector workers, with many booing Mr Johnston — a former union official — as he tried to speak.
In recent months, union leaders have regularly commented on their surprise at seeing unions treated with "disrespect" by a Labor government.
Unions take move as a win
Unions had suggested they might begrudgingly accept the previous wages policy if other conditions in their offers helped tip the balance.
But for both the UWU and HSU, higher-level representatives decided those offers weren't good enough, and rejected them before they even went to members for a vote.
The broader union movement is taking today's decision as a win.
"This policy is a long way from the flat $1,000 pay increases offered by the government last year, and unions continue to substantially increase the pay offered to public sector workers," Mr Whittle said.
But he continued to criticise the government's approach of offering a single wages policy to all in the public sector – rather than negotiating with individual workforces.
"Unions are fighting for a return to genuine bargaining in the public sector," he said.
"This cannot be achieved with an arbitrary and binding wages policy."
Nurses' concerns not addressed
The Australian Nurses Federation has said it is likely to reject any new deal which does not address nurse-to-patient ratios.
The ANF state secretary Janet Reah said the financial incentive is limited, because it falls well below inflation for at least half of members.
"Whatever our members think of the government pay offer it is unlikely that they will vote in favour of it because it doesn't address our need for nurse-to-patient ratios," Ms Reah said.
"This government pay offer will still keep our nurses and midwives the second-lowest paid in Australia … how would they recruit nurses and midwives to Western Australia?"
Ms Reah said despite the inquest into the death of Aishwarya Aswath shining a spotlight on staffing issues in hospitals, the government had still failed to address nurse-to-patient ratios and staff being overworked.
Among the ANF's key demands is for there to be a maximum of three patients to one nurse.
"We're going to be calling a mass meeting on the 12th of October and that will be for our members to vote on whether they take industrial action and, if they do, the forms that the industrial action will take," she said.
"So, everything is on the table, it'll be things from bans on overtime, bans on double shifts, which a lot of them are doing at the moment to keep the staffing numbers as they are, rolling hospital-based rallies, closing beds, stoppages, flash mobs, strikes as a last resort."
"So, everything is on the table, and they'll be voting on that."
Nurses are expected to be away from work for up to three hours to attend the meeting which will likely run for between 1.5 to 2 hours at the Perth Convention centre.
"We will be writing to the government and letting them know so that they can make arrangements that day to downscale activities, like cancel elective surgeries, and get in agency staff to cover while the nurses are away for that small period of time for the meeting," Ms Reah said.
Ms Reah said the meeting will be one of the union's biggest gatherings in years and if action is agreed upon, it is likely to commence that very same day.
"From history, we've gone out and closed beds immediately and things like that," she said.
Health Minister, Amber-Jade Sanderson said she was yet to hear from the ANF but expected efforts would be taken to ensure patient safety.
"I am yet to receive the ANF's letter but I expect the nurse's union to work with hospitals to mitigate any impacts to patient care and safety, just as the HSUWA and UWU have done previously," she said.
"We respect the rights of workers to take industrial action and WA Health will manage any impacts to minimise disruption to hospital operations."
HSU also unhappy with offer
The Health Services Union WA secretary Naomi McCrae raised concerns the updated offer would do little to retain senior staff in public health.
"We think it will be unhelpful in retaining the skilled and experienced public health workforce, particularly those senior people that we need to retain," she said.
Ms McCrae said her union was still awaiting a new formal offer with improved pay and conditions and said industrial action remained on the table.
"We will certainly be looking at what industrial action might be needed to ensure that occurs," she said.
"That could include work bans, such as not performing unpaid overtime, as well as work stoppages.
"We've put it to our members to consider four-hour work stoppages as well as eight-hour work stoppages."
McGowan 'sitting in money bin': opposition
The opposition has welcomed the new wages offer, with treasury spokesman Steve Thomas saying it was proof that the previous policies were "wholly inadequate".
"Mark McGowan has been more interested in sitting in his money bin rolling in the cash provided by massive surpluses than sharing that wealth appropriately with workers through the development of an adequate and fair wages policy," he said.
"He is sitting on more than $20 billion in surpluses over five years, so he can well and truly afford to give some back to struggling households."
Dr Thomas said the government now needed to do more to help the majority of West Australians who were not in the public service by further lowering fees and charges.
