Chris Minns is “deeply sorry” to anyone affected by escalating industrial action in New South Wales (NSW), as frontline workers continue their push for major pay increases.
The NSW premier has not yet reached an agreement with nurses and midwives, who plan to stop work for 24 hours on Nov. 13 after four weeks of failed intensive pay talks.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association says it’s been left with no choice but to take action after the government wouldn’t budge on its offer.
Union general secretary Shaye Candish said members were “extremely frustrated and disheartened.”
“They have been holding on for an outcome on better pay, juggling challenging working conditions, trying to manage their bills in a cost-of-living crisis, and now they feel terribly let down,” she said.
All NSW public-sector workers have been offered a blanket 10.5 percent pay rise over three years, including mandatory increases in superannuation payments.
But the nurses and midwives have been asking for an immediate 15 percent wage increase.
Minns said he was “deeply sorry” to anyone who would miss a planned surgery next week, branding it “a huge inconvenience for families.”
At least 5000 nurses and midwives took to the streets in September during a 24-hour stop-work, the largest rally against the government since Labor took office.
“I’m sorry there hasn’t been a breakthrough, I genuinely am ... we wanted to get an outcome with the nurses association,” Minns said.
“I wish it was different ... but unfortunately we can’t come to terms.”
The union struck an interim pay deal after the September rally, agreeing to a three percent rise after four weeks of negotiations.
The government argues every non-wage claim made by the unions has been agreed to.
In a separate action, rail staff plan to stop work from Nov. 14 unless the government agrees to run metropolitan and intercity trains 24 hours a day from Thursdays to Sundays.
The move is the latest in a series of threatened actions against the government over stalled pay negotiations for train staff.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) NSW secretary Toby Warnes said the government had been dragging its heels since an enterprise agreement expired six months earlier.
“Our members’ pay has effectively gone backwards while government and management twiddle their thumbs and constantly delay progress,” he said.
The union wants a 32 percent pay rise over four years and a 35-hour working week.
The premier said the RTBU’s near-200 claims had been worked through, but there was a limit to what his government could afford to pay.
Transport for NSW said it would work through contingency plans for the strike but did not say whether the agency had agreed to the 24-hour timetable.
