PHOTO: Sheree Staggs, Pam Martin, Tracey Allport, Dinah Riley, Alexi Scotti, Sarah Cruickshank, Susan Gregory, Anna Hare and Lyla and Scarlett Scotti (kids) in front of the Gilgandra hospital today. Photo credit: NSWNMA.
Eight public sector nurses and midwives in Gilgandra held stop-work action today to fight stagnant wage conditions.
The protest was part of broader industrial action in which nurses and midwives across NSW demanded a 15.2 percent pay rise and increased penalty rates for night shifts, comparable to the awards of their counterparts in other states.
Over the course of this week, more than 100 NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members will participate in similar actions to raise awareness for the union’s pay claim.
The NSWNMA says that the wages of nurses and midwives are not keeping pace with inflation and have fallen over 10 percent since 2020.
The union says the 15.2 percent pay rise consists of a 4.2 percent increase due to anticipated inflation and the remaining 11 percent to restore purchasing power and equally distribute the cumulative national productivity improvements of recent decades…