Thousands of nurses will strike across New South Wales on Tuesday, defying orders from the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) to call the action off.
The IRC ruling was made on Monday afternoon after the NSW health department argued the protests would pose a risk to public health and safety.
It is the first statewide industrial action by nurses in a decade, with the union calling for stricter nurse-to-patient ratios and a 2.5% increase in pay following unsuccessful negations with the government.
The union was ordered to stop organising, call off the strike and not authorise members to take part.
In a statement, a health department spokesman said the IRC was enlisted to “minimise disruption to important health services”.
“NSW Health acknowledges that any strike action would cause disruptions and delays to health services throughout the state,” the statement read.
“Whilst local health districts have plans in place to minimise potential disruptions and delays, to ensure all those in need of emergency and urgent care continue to receive it as quickly as possible.
“NSW Health urges the union to comply with the orders handed down by the IRC.”
Earlier in the day, an industrial officer for the the Nurses and Midwives Association told the IRC discussions had not resulted in a resolution which would “go any way to satisfying the association the real concerns of nurses are being addressed”.
Following Monday’s hearing, a spokesperson for the union confirmed the actions would proceed as planned, despite an order to stop the strike.
“The IRC has placed orders and directions against us late [Monday] afternoon,” the statement read.
“The NSWNMA council supports the decision of our branches to take industrial action statewide. The strike and rallies will go ahead, as we are unable to comply with the orders.”
The department launched the court action arguing the strike would place too high a burden on hospitals and endanger public safety.
“Should the strike action occur it will cause significant disruption to the safe staffing of health facilities and presenting a risk to employee and public health and safety,” the court notification read.
Union officials met with department and ministerial officials on Monday to discuss the demands from nurses and midwives ahead of the strike.
NSWNMA assistant general secretary Shaye Candish said the government had not meet the association’s requests.
“He [health minister Brad Hazzard] is interested in continuing to talk,” she said.
“I’m not as convinced that he’s interested in solutions but we’ll wait to see. We’re very happy to continue talking but we want to start to see solutions.”
Candish said nurses had been under significant pressure even before the pandemic and the situation for many was now unbearable.
“It’s an incredibly challenging time,” she said. “We’re coming through the downturn of the [Omicron] peak now and we still have members who are routinely working double shifts, multiple overtime shifts per week.”
Speaking on ABC radio on Monday morning, the NSW treasurer, Matt Kean, said the demands being made by nurses had been reasonable.
“The demands that the nurses are making are very reasonable,” he said.
“We greatly respect their work and we’ll work through them in the appropriate process. We want to make sure that we listen to what they’re saying and that we put forward the best offer that’s in the state’s interest and in the nurses’ interest.”
Last week NSW premier Dominic Perrottet said setting nurse-to-patient ratios “hasn’t actually worked so well in other states”.
Speaking on Monday, he said it was “unlikely” a resolution would be reached before tomorrow, but that his government would continue working with officials.
“We want to reach resolution and the sooner we reach resolution, the better,” he said.
The department has been contacted for comment.
