15 February 2022
Thousands of nurses and midwives have walked off the job in NSW today to protest pay and staffing levels, saying COVID-19 has pushed an already stretched system to its limit, the ABC reports.
The nurses marched through Sydney’s CBD to State Parliament, with rallies also taking place in regional NSW.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association defied an order yesterday to call off the industrial action.
Late on Monday afternoon, the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) ordered the union to immediately cease organising the strike and to refrain from taking any kind of industrial action for the next month.
The intervention came after the NSW Government took the matter to the IRC, arguing that the planned strike would disrupt health services across the state.
Crisis talks between the nurses’ union and NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard yesterday failed to resolve the stalemate in negotiations over pay and staffing levels in hospitals.
The Nurses and Midwives' Association said the intervention came too late as members across the state had already voted to strike, and they needed to "stand tall" to express their frustrations.
Speaking this morning, nurse Kathy Triggol said health workers "deserve better".
"Most of the time, the staff are overworked and stressed and it's just not fair. We don't ask for much, we're asking for it to be fair," she said.
She said the last few years had been "dreadful" with many wards short-staffed.
"It's gotten to the stage that every hospital is the same," Ms Triggol said.
"We're talking about nurses in the ICU and emergency department who can't even stop to go to the toilet. It's just ridiculous."
In South Australia, the ANMF is running an Action for Health campaign urging people to put their name to a letter to the Marshall Government, urging the Government to address the chronic under-resourcing of our public hospitals and resultant nurse burnout.
See how you can get involved
Labor in SA has committed to a number of important statements including ending privatisation of the health service, ensuring resources for health, establishing a target of 90% hospital occupancy rates to ease patient flow and, importantly, legislating nurse to patient ratios and moving these out of the bargaining process and into law.
The ANMF (SA Branch) believes this is a significant decision for all nurses, midwives and carers and will help to protect the patients and aged care residents and the staff who care for them. This action will prevent the extreme delays, ramping and cancellations of treatments people are experiencing.
The Liberals have (finally) responded to our Health Policy Position Statement and have said they will not legislate ratios, have not committed to ending privatisation, nor have they committed to operating at a target of 90% hospital capacity.
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the NSW nurses and midwives are calling for pay rises and legislated staff-to-patient ratios, similar to those in Queensland and Victoria.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association said the changes were needed to prevent a further loss of qualified health professionals.
Wollongong midwife Emma Gedge boarded a bus to Sydney this morning along with 150 colleagues.
"We're drowning...we've been drowning for a long time and COVID has really just pressed that point home that this health system is just not working," she told the ABC.
"As nurses and midwives, we don't walk away from our patients lightly and this really rips our heart out to have to do this."
In Orange, in the state's central west, about 60 nurses marched up the main street where a crowd watched on and motorists honked their support.
Union member Grace Langlands said she was "proud" to be there.
"We're running into double times, overtime, we're doing a morning into a late, a late into a night, doing stupid hours, because we want our patients to be OK, but that's not OK anymore," she said.
"We need to put ourselves first so we can provide the appropriate care, with the appropriate number and the appropriate safety."
Ms Langlands said some union members stayed at work to ensure patient safety.
On the state's south coast, about 200 nurses rallied in Bega's Littleton Gardens.
Sarah Anderson, a midwife and nurse based in the Bega Valley, said the system was breaking young staff.
"I became a registered nurse in 1983...and I've been a midwife since 1986," she said.
"I am appalled by the patronising attitude of our Government towards nurses, telling us that everything is OK. It is not OK, I have never seen it worse."
Nurses in different districts have chosen to strike for between four and 24 hours, with the union saying that timings have been staggered to lessen disruption for patients.
Skeleton staff have remained to treat critically unwell patients and preserve life.
A spokesperson for NSW Health acknowledged that staff have "worked tirelessly during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic".
View a Facebook video of today’s protest below: