NSW paramedics and other health workers are ramping up their industrial action, impatient that a promised pay hike has failed to materialise two months after Labor was swept to power.
Scrapping the three per cent public sector wage cap was a key promise of Labor’s election campaign and unions are disappointed with the lack of progress.
The Health Services Union says workers will walk off the job on Wednesday at several hospitals across the state, but patient safety won’t be impacted.
Union boss Gerard Hayes is “bitterly disappointed” with the lack of action from the government in the face of the rising cost of living and says frustrated workers are prepared to escalate action to get a pay increase.
“There is still a lot of talk and not a lot of action,” he told AAP on Monday.
The union is calling for a six per cent pay rise, plus point five per cent in terms of super, noting pay increases had not kept pace with inflation.
“This comes on the back of two years ago, the union got a point three per cent increase,” Mr Hayes said.
“So people were struggling then. But now we are seeing inflation at seven per cent, it was nowhere near that before,” he said.
“We are seeing people’s rents ratcheting up by 30 to 50 per cent. We are hearing that people are rationing food.”
“This should be an absolute priority for a government,” he said.
Higher wages were vital to retain workers who were leaving the industry and going elsewhere.
My Hayes said the industrial action will only increase, with the union holding its annual conference in July.
Members of the NSW Australian Paramedics Association voted on Friday to continue their week-long ban on staff movements, despite the government seeking legal action to stop it.
Acting secretary Brendan McIlveen said paramedics had been leaving in droves for the past three years due to low wages.
“”We can’t sit around hoping for these critical issues to be addressed, and we won’t be bullied out of fighting for them.”
– AAP
