The Police Association of New South Wales (PANSW) has struck a massive new pay deal with the Chris Minns Government that will see officers earn pay rises of up to 39 per cent. However, some punters have criticised the biggest wage increase in NSW Police history for coming at same time the state’s nurses and midwives continue to unsuccessfully strike for improved conditions.
After receiving the government’s offer for an “unprecedented” salary increase a fortnight ago, today 96 per cent of PANSW members voted to accept the deal.
Across the entire NSW Police force, cops will cop pay rises of between 22.3 per cent and 39.4 per cent over four years. This amounts to as much as $47,000 more a year for some officers.
However, the deal hasn’t been applauded by everyone, as a growing sector of the public are calling out the government for not increasing the pay of nurses with the same generosity they afforded police.
NSW Police become Australia’s highest paid
NSW Minister for Police Yasmin Catley highlighted in a press conference that the new deal is a “generational change” for the state’s boys in blue.
“The police are incredibly happy with the resounding result that we got which was 96 per cent of the workforce endorsing this agreement; this is unprecedented,” she said.
“It shows police that we value them, the work they do and the sacrifices they make… Police pay had been driven backwards for more than a decade; that ends today under a Minns government.”
Cops in NSW will now be the highest-paid ones in Australia, with even the lowest-earning constables set to earn $110,042 per year by the end of the deal.
While the deal is being celebrated by those in and around the police force, some members of the public feel it comes under the shadow of another essential workforce who are pleading for better pay — nurses and midwives.
NSW nurses and midwives strike for better conditions
Days after the 39 per cent increase was announced for police, nurses and midwives in NSW conducted a 24-hour strike for their own wage increase.
The November 13 strike was a climactic point in the negotiations that NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) have been having with the Minns government since April.
As a result of the strike, nurses were offered a 15 per cent pay increase delivered over multiple years. However, this deal was rejected by the union on the grounds that other states have higher rates of pay, and the 15 per cent increase is required immediately to help the essential workers battle the cost of living crisis.
NSWNMA general secretary Shaye Candish directly called out the government for offering increases to some essential worker industries, but leaving nurses out to dry.
“Teachers, paramedics, and now police have all received historic, once-in-a-generation pay rises,” Candish said.
“The decision to give police more than double the offer for nurses speaks volumes.”
And now today, as the announcement police have accepted their massive pay deal, more members of the public have expressed the same confused sentiment as to why nurses are seemingly being ignored.
Chris Minns’ police announcement shadowed by underpaid nurses
In the NSW Premier’s announcement online that the state’s police force had just been given a “historic pay rise”, the comments of Minns’ posts were overwhelmed by people calling for nurses and midwives to get the same treatment.
BREAKING: We've just secured a deal with the NSW Police Force to give them a historic pay rise.
— Chris Minns (@ChrisMinnsMP) November 26, 2024
Many users on X (formerly Twitter) flocked to ask the simple question: “What about nurses?”
“What about our nurses and train drivers… you don’t seem to care about them at all,” one user wrote.
“Is it only predominantly male workforces that are getting the respect from the NSW Govt via fair wages?” asked another.
As a result of the failed negotiations between the nurses’ union and the state government, another strike is set to take place across 17 hospitals in NSW on Tuesday, November 27.
Lead Image: Getty
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