By The Guardian (World News) | Created at 2024-09-23 20:45:14 | Updated at 2024-09-30 09:30:34
6 days ago
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NSW nurses to strike from 7am
A pay dispute between NSW nurses and the state government will escalate when thousands of union members walk off the job at public hospitals in day-long industrial action, the AAP report.
The stop-work action by nurses and midwives today will affect elective surgery and cause delays for some patients, while support for life-saving care will not be impacted.
The NSW health minister, Ryan Park, said officials had sought to contact patients with surgery scheduled to make alternative arrangements due to the industrial action.
“I acknowledge the dispute between the government and the association has a way to go,” he said in a statement on Monday.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association action will start at 7am in the union’s second major stop-work action since Labor came to power in March 2023. The strike is part of a union push for a 15% one-year pay hike for members, a demand that the premier, Chris Minns, has said is unaffordable.
All NSW public sector workers, including nurses, have been offered a three-year 10.5% pay increase factoring in a mandatory rise in superannuation payments.
The union says Labor has failed to express a willingness to move its position after months of talks, prompting the strike.
The industrial relations commission president, Ingmar Taylor, has not yet examined the union’s argument for pay rises but recommended an interim deal and four weeks of “intensive discussions” in a bid to broker a deal.
The interim offer involved a 3% wage increase with back-pay if nurses agreed to halt industrial action.
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Good morning and welcome to our rolling new coverage. Before today’s regular blogger comes along, this is Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories to get you started.
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