A temporary truce has been called in the NSWNMA’s fight for better pay and conditions, with the State Government's offer, which was part of a recommendation from the Industrial Relations Commission, being accepted.

As part of these recommendations, a 3% wage increase will be back paid from July 1st for the NSWNMA members, and the members will cease all disruptive actions while four weeks of discussions are tabled.

MP Ryan Park said, “I am pleased to confirm that both the Government and the Nurses & Midwives Association have accepted the recommendation of the IRC.”

Michael Whaites, the NSWNMA's Assistant General Secretary, explained the expectation: “Under the recommendations from the IRC, it's four weeks of intensive negotiations to try and resolve it.

“We would hope it would take less than four weeks, but given the gap between us, we need to be realistic about how long it's going to take.

“We've been clear with the government that the goal has to be getting paid parity with certainly Queensland, and also in doing that address the gender pay parity that exists within the New South Wales public health system. So they remain our goals.”

Penelope Anderson, the president of the Lismore NSWNMA branch, explained that the last strike on Tuesday 24th, mainly across Tweed, Sydney and Albury, finally got the attention they needed. “There were over 10,000 in Sydney. Across the state, it's the biggest strike ever that has occurred. 

“From that strike, the government actually called an emergency meeting to meet with our union and, for the first time ever, sat at the table with us.”

The vote was put to the union and accepted, albeit with trepidatious trust.

The nurses and midwives intend to continue promoting their cause, and you may see them rally, but it will be in their time, not under strike action.

“We will keep highlighting our cause to the public and we'll keep our social media campaigns and all of the other stuff that we've got going on as well. 

“Members of the public that would like to support us can, by writing an email to local politicians MP Janelle Saffin and MP Ryan Park in support. We would greatly appreciate it.”

The flyer with an explanation from the NSWNMA on what is happening.

Michael Whaites explained how this pay situation has been left for so long, “Under the previous government, the way the Industrial Relations Act worked was that whatever the government offered, is all the commission could award. 

“So, unless we were willing to trade off existing pay and conditions, we couldn't get higher pay. There was nothing that nurses and midwives had to trade-off. There was no Court of Arbitration for workers' wages in New South Wales. Labor reintroduced that court of arbitration.

“We now have a process, as robust as it may seem, that allows us to negotiate better outcomes. So, if this process works this time around, that gives us hope that in subsequent years, there will be similar discussions, and we won't have such a gap to cover. 

“I think that's the thing that's problematic for us this time around, is that the gap created by the policy of the previous government is now just so large and that's been the barrier.”

Progress on the talks will be made public on their website.