Editorial

SHAYE Candish

GENERAL SECRETARY

We haven’t yet hit rock bottom under this state government

The trends are terrible but they are going to get even worse the longer we have a Perrottet government.

A recent report by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work analysing the impact of the state government’s wage caps over the last decade makes for sober reading (see pp 18-19). The report estimates that, compared to long-run pre-cap wage trends, experienced nurses and midwives made $335 less per week in 2021-22. That is $17,500 less per year. On a cumulative basis they have lost $80,000 since the caps were introduced. The news gets worse, according to the report. If the Perrottet government stays in office beyond the March state election this “pay suppression” will get much larger if the caps remain in place. And they will stay in place if the government is reelected and maintains its current intransigent position. By 2023-24, the report says – factoring in the government’s stated plan to cap wages growth to 3 per cent and 3.5 per cent – the loss in wages will grow to $390 per week or over $20,000 per year. Cumulative losses for someone who has worked throughout the wage cap period would reach $120,000. This economic pain will not stop when you retire. Because superannuation contributions are automatically tied to wages, nurses and midwives have lost thousands of dollars in contributions from their employers. Thousands more have been lost in investment income on those contributions.

THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES

The report shows starkly the brutality of the government’s attack on your standards of living over the last decade. The government’s meanness over public sector pay stands in stark contrast to other important players in the economic and political realms. The Fair Work Commission has granted a 15 per cent pay increase for aged care workers. The federal government supports this decision. The NSW Labor Party and the Greens have committed to abandoning the wages policy. The NSW government has also been left behind by the other parties on staffing. The ALP has committed to introducing an enforceable safe minimum staffing system for nurses and midwives working in public hospitals across NSW. Enforceable ratios for EDs, ICUs and maternity are significant. Regional areas too have not been forgotten with MPS services also a part of the commitment. Labor’s announcement is a significant injection of hope for those working in the public health system. And it is just the beginning. There will still be a lot more work to be done to resolve staffing issues for all specialty areas. We have been fighting for ratios for over a decade and we are finally been listened to by everyone except the ones who could make this happen today – the Perrottet government.

PROGRESS TO CELEBRATE BUT VIGILANCE NEEDED

But patience, resilience and commitment eventually prevail as our colleagues in aged care have shown us. The Albanese government has quickly introduced reforms into parliament that our aged care members themselves describe as “brave and ambitious”. There has also been an interim 15 per cent pay rise with the possibility of more to come from the work value case that the ANMF prosecuted in the Fair Work Commission. The federal budget also contained significant increased funding to aged care to facilitate the reforms and the wage increase. The Federal ALP has honoured its election promises in aged care and we thank them for that. But even as we celebrate the undoubted progress in aged care we have to remain vigilant – especially against those employers who will try to game the system. Already we have Southern Cross Care in Tasmania making ENs redundant and replacing them with lower-paid personal care workers despite receiving significant funding increases from the Albanese government. The Albanese government has voiced its disappointment that when there has been a significant increase in federal funding for care and when there are acute workforce shortages Southern Cross is proposing to terminate the employment of longstanding, experienced and dedicated nursing staff. There is a lesson here we need to learn: we can never let down our guard and we need to keep employers accountable or there will be a constant erosion of the gains we have fought very hard for. n

The report shows starkly the brutality of the government’s attack on your standards of living over the last decade.

Have your Say

Don’t look down, look up!

An esteemed colleague of mine said to me as I left work this morning that we’re standing on a cliff edge. On my way back to work – on a Saturday night, no less – I thought about all the conversations I have had with my coworkers over the last few weeks. And I realised we’re not on the edge at all. We’re like the cartoon coyote running way past the edge, and hovering in mid-air. The only reason we haven’t started free falling is because we haven’t looked down; because we all know that when the coyote looks down, that is when he falls to the ground below. That’s what we’re doing right now. Every night our entire team – paramedics, nurses, dispatchers, DOMs, managers, doctors, and allied health staff – carry the burden of a failing health care system that is short-staffed and overworked. We’re just putting fingers into that dam wall. We just haven’t looked down. That’s it. I don’t intend to look down. I did once, and it broke me. I will hope to continue to be kind to my colleagues, my patients, and everyone I come across. And I hope you feel kindness and gratitude, because that’s what you deserve. Rachel Hughes, EN

The health consequences of indiscriminate gas extraction

On 4 November, other NSWNMA members and I joined a trade union contingent of activists and travelled to Coonabarabran to see first-hand both the beauty of the Pilliga region but also the devastation caused by fossil fuel extraction. We were shown the incredible underground river systems, told of the diversity of plant and animal life sustained in this region, learned about the connection to country for the Gomeroi people and the ceremonial significance of this land. We also learnt about the proposal for 850-plus gas wells that are being planned in this area – which would be blasted through into the Great Artesian Basin, creating toxic salt by-products that no-one – including the government and the mining companies – knows how to dispose of safely. The Gomeroi people have voted overwhelmingly AGAINST the proposed gas wells, and in response Santos has taken the Gomeroi Nation to the Native Title Tribunal to try to ultimately dispossess them of their land. Of the 180 disputes taken to the Native Title Tribunal – only three have ever been decided in favour of First Nations people. The verdict in this current case is still to be decided, but this is a rigged and racist system that perpetuates the harms of colonisation and continues the destruction of the land. This is our battle. We know that dispossession of First Nations people from their land has caused catastrophic health outcomes across this nation – and as nurses it’s our business to be aware of this. We know that fuelling further global warming will cause catastrophic health outcomes across the world. Australia, our patients, and our families will not be excluded from this. So as nurses and midwives, we must lend our support and commit to act when required to by the Gomeroi people. It is a commitment we must make if we are serious as a union about standing with our First Nation brothers and sisters to fight for a fair and equitable future. Let us be the follow-through … let us not be another empty promise. Let us stand proudly with our brothers and sisters across the union movement in condemning Santos’s project and stopping it in its tracks. Let us commit to fighting for the health of our country, the health of the Gomeroi nation and against the ongoing harmful dispossession of First Nations people from their lands. Damien Davis Franks, RN

Ramsay members eye ratios too

Member leaders representing many of the 28 facilities operated by Ramsay Health Care are currently in negotiations with Ramsay to seek improved pay and conditions in a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. With this in mind, the Association brought together these member leaders from regional and metro areas, along with the organisers from the Association for a day to discuss the issues at Ramsay and how we could collectively build our strength. All up there were 30 members attending this timely education day. By bringing us together, Ramsay members were provided with a space to clearly and safely voice their thoughts and share their own stories about staff shortages. We shared our stories of managing through the past few years and for regional nurses this included not only COVID but also the other challenges of drought, bushfires and now floods. At the end of the day, we felt empowered to go out amongst our peers to share the knowledge. We continue to put pressure on Ramsay to implement safe staffing levels, the same as has been promised within the public system. So a big thank you to the Association. Lyn Whitlam RN