SYDNEY — Up to 10,000 nurses and midwives marched through the central city and rallied outside state Parliament here Nov. 13, chanting, “We won’t take it anymore, we want more in ’24” and “15% now!” The protest was both angry and festive, with many bringing homemade banners. “Pay us 15% before we are living in a tent,” read one.
Rallies and marches took place in other centers across New South Wales. The actions were part of a 24-hour strike to press the demands of more than 50,000 nurses and midwives in the state’s public hospitals.
The Nurses and Midwives Association is demanding a 15% immediate annual pay increase to meet rising prices and to bring pay up to par with that in neighboring states. Following earlier strikes and protests, the union agreed Sept. 30 to an interim 3% pay raise while negotiations continued over four weeks.
However, the union said, the state government made no new offers, instead saying any wage increase would be at the expense of promised increases in staff-to-patient ratios. “What other occupation is required to pay for the resources to do their job out of their own pocket?” responded the union’s general secretary, Shaye Candish.
“We have a cost-of-living crisis,” Michael Whaites, the union’s assistant general secretary, told the Nov. 13 rally, answering government claims that the nurses are greedy. “It’s not greedy to want to pay your rent.”
Among a number of union contingents supporting the nurses’ rally was the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, which is also taking action against the state government for improved wages and conditions in a new union contract.
Over the following two days nurses and midwives at two of the top private hospital providers in Sydney walked off the job to also press for an immediate 15% pay increase.