The NSW nurses' union has vowed to defy an eleventh-hour order from the Industrial Relations Commission to call off a statewide strike planned for Tuesday.
Late on Monday afternoon, the Commission ordered the union to immediately cease organising the strike and to refrain from taking any kind of industrial action for the next month.
"The [NSW Nurses and Midwives'] Association must immediately take all reasonable steps to discourage and prevent its members employed in NSW Health entities from taking industrial action," the orders signed by Commissioner John Murphy said.
The union was further ordered to remove any reference to the strike from its website and Facebook page and send an email or text to all members instructing them to call off the strike.
The intervention came after the NSW government took the matter to the commission, arguing that the planned strike would disrupt health services across the state.
"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," a NSW Health spokesperson said.
Brett Holmes, General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, said the intervention came too late as nurses and midwives across the state had already voted to take strike
"I think the government has purposefully left their attempt until today to play politics," Mr Holmes said.
"They didn't want to be seen to try to smash nurses during the weekend's elections.
"Now they are quite happy to do so."
He vowed to press ahead with the planned industrial action, saying his members "would not be silenced".
"We certainly will be proceeding," he said.
"We have told our members to stand tall and stand strong, we need to express loud and clear to the community and to the government of NSW that we absolutely have to have change in our public health system."
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses and midwives across NSW are calling for pay rises and legislated staff to patient ratios, similar to those in Queensland and Victoria.
The union said the changes were needed to prevent a further loss of qualified health professionals.
"We need to make sure there will be nurses and midwives at the bedside to look after patients in the future," Mr Holmes said.
"If we don't see change now, then we certainly will see far too many nurses and midwives simply walk away from the profession."
A spokesperson for NSW Health acknowledged that staff have "worked tirelessly during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic".
A statement said that the "flexible staff to patient ratio system" currently in place ensured "the right number of nurses in the right place at the right time".
NSW Health said the nursing and midwifery workforce had increased by almost a quarter in the past decade.
"There are more nurses and midwives in NSW public hospitals than at any other time in history," the spokesperson said.
