NSW government offers 8.5% pay rise to lowest-paid health workers to head off industrial action

The Health Services Union says 60% of its workers will be better off under a new offer from the NSW government, resulting in a 4.5% to 8.5% pay rise. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

The lowest-paid health workers in New South Wales could get a pay increase of up to 8.5% under a new state government offer intended to head off threatened industrial action.

The proposal comes after the Health Services Union (HSU) gave the Minns government until Friday to offer a new pay deal, after its members voted to rebuke Labor’s promise to increase public sector wages by 4%.