NSWNMA (NSW Nurses and Midwives Association) nurses and midwives requests to government for fairer pay have fallen on deaf ears so far, so the nurses have taken the next step in standing up for their demands.

A pay rise and better conditions are needed to put NSW nurses on an equal footing with their counterparts in Queensland. This will stop the exodus of nurses moving north and provide NSW nurses and midwives with adequate pay and benefits. 100 hospitals around the state will also be taking the same action this week.

In Lismore, around 150 nurses, midwives, and mental health workers stopped work or came in on their days off and shift workers deprived themselves of sleep to attend. Some staff had patients that required attention and were unable to leave their duties, such as one nurse assisting a woman giving birth.

“We were just amazingly impressed with the commitment and the passion from these nurses who just love their work, love their patients, but know that it's so important that we get out there and demonstrate what we deserve,” says Penelope Anderson, the NSWNMA Lismore Base Hospital Branch President.

The nurses walked off the job for one hour to demonstrate and discuss further measures. However, Penelope wanted to point out that patients were not put at risk.

“We nurses and midwives will never leave our patients unsupported. So when we choose this sort of action, it is with the proviso that even if there are members who want to walk off the floor if our patients aren't safe, some of us volunteer to stay behind,” said Penelope. 

The demonstration was supported by members of the public, and cars driving by honking and expressing support.  

“It just warms our heart. We know we've got community support, but when we hear it like that, that just gives us so much support. Beeping their horns and blaring their sirens just really, really gives us a bit more drive to stick with the process.”

Emergency vehicles - police and ambulance drove by and let their support be known with sirens wailing and lights flashing.

One bystander, Anoud said, “They should ask for 30%! They deserve it; they are the backbone of our nation!”

The NSWNMA has not received any indication of a realistic compromise from the government, so the next aspect of their actions was decided on in a unanimous vote at a meeting directly after the demonstration.

(The demonstrators walked up Uralba Street brandishing their signs and garnering support)

Penelope said nurses, midwives and mental health workers are going to take extra measures, but those measures will be rolled out with consideration to absent members, their employers, as well as the patients in their care. Those measures will be revealed in time. 

Penelope said, “Patients will always be our number one priority. We're just not going to be taken for granted anymore.”

Penelope trains nurses in advanced care techniques on the job, at patients' bedsides. She had just finished training some nurses with advanced dressing techniques and there was one participant who was moving to the Queensland system.  

“I had a chat with her and introduced myself. After I said, I'll see you around, and she replied, Oh, no, you won't. I've got a job at the Gold Coast University Hospital. I'm starting next week, but I'll be able to take that lesson with me and take that skill with me now to my new hospital.”

This is the problem with such inconsistent conditions with our close neighbour, Queensland. Penelope said, “Why shouldn't any nurse or midwife value themselves enough to get better paying conditions for the same job?”

NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish said after more than ten negotiation meetings with the state government, there’d been no progress on the union’s pay claim.

(In Lismore Base Hospital)

“The state government needs to know we are serious and we are fed up. Wages for the state’s largest female workforce have been suppressed for more than a decade. Labor must fix this gender inequity and show that it respects our nurses and midwives and the work they do caring for our communities,” said Ms Candish.

“NSW nurses and midwives are the lowest paid in the country. If the state government wants to rebuild the nursing and midwifery workforce and is serious about retaining its hardworking and dedicated staff, it must step up and pay nurses and midwives a wage that reflects their incredible contribution.

“It’s time Premier Chris Minns and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey recognised the value and worth of nurses and midwives.”