In an attempt to soften the blow of a pay freeze, the New South Wales (NSW) government is offering a $1,000 one-off payment for frontline workers and a guarantee that no public sector workers will be made redundant in the next 12 months.
The $1,000 stimulus payment will cost $200 million, and the remaining $2.8 billion will be available for “shovel-ready” projects across the state.
However, unions and the opposition Labor Party are objecting to the proposal, accusing the government of mistreating frontline workers, such as nurses.
Perrottet said: “The unions are doing their job. Their job ... is to represent their members but our job as a government is to represent all $8 million people right across our state.”
Perrottet told 2GB that about 200,000 people had lost their jobs in NSW last month alone.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said while the decision was difficult, it was the fairest one for the people of NSW.
“The only way NSW will come out of this crisis in a strong position is if we all make sacrifices, and that’s what we’re asking our own workforce to do because we are all in this together.”
Berejiklian also warned that if Labor and the crossbench reject the proposal in Parliament the government will be left in a “difficult” position.
“We won’t be in a position to be able to guarantee the jobs, we won’t be in a position to be able to guarantee the $1000,” she said.
NSW has half a million people out of work in the wake of the CCP virus pandemic, which is about 30 percent of the entire country’s unemployment total. The proposed pay freezes will affect about 410,000 people.
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge strongly opposes the proposal to freeze pay increases.
“Working people shouldn’t have to pay for COVID-19,” he said.
Berejiklian admitted her government is asking a lot of people but believes the proposal was a fair way to deal with a difficult situation.
