MOU locks in ratios

After months of talks, the Ministry of Health and the NSW state government have offered a 4 per cent pay rise and a 0.5 per cent superannuation increase, back paid to 1 July 2023, in a one-year agreement.

The offer is consistent with a 4 per cent pay rise for all public sector workers which other public sector unions had already accepted.

The government has also committed in a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association to implement ratios in key areas.

This will lead to a variation in the Award in October this year, which will contain a schedule of sites for conversion to ratios.

Safe staffing ratios will be implemented in five key areas including:

• the conversion of NHPPD wards and units to shift-byshift ratios

• 1:3 in emergency departments

• 1:3 in postnatal maternity and a review of Birthrate Plus

• ICU staffed to the latest Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) Professional Standards, and

• three nurses on each shift in MPSs, where the ED is open 24/7.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Shaye Candish, said the offer includes other improvements to conditions won by members.

“These include the right to leave early or be paid overtime on night shift if your paid breaks are not provided. When working overtime, you’ll be able to choose between being paid a meal allowance or the provision of a meal.

“Nurse managers who are Grade 4 or above will now be eligible to receive an on-call allowance. There are also improvements to the current Grading Committee process. That means there will be collaboration on the grading of positions beyond NUMs.

“The current 20 days’ paid family and domestic violence leave will be included in your Award, to protect your entitlement,” she said.

There are also ‘partial’ improvements:

• A clause that recognises the impact of wearing full PPE. This means no-one will be required to work for more than two hours in full PPE without a break or change in tasks.

• New graduate nurses and midwives will be entitled to a minimum of five supernumerary shifts per annum.

Commission Constrained By Wages Cap

As The Lamp goes to print, NSWNMA branches are voting on whether to accept the offer.

NSWNMA Assistant Secretary, Michael Whaites, said if the majority of branches vote to accept the offer, the Award will be made by consent in the Industrial Relations Commission shortly after the vote closes.

“The 4 per cent increase plus the 0.5 per cent super will be paid likely within a few weeks with back pay to 1 July included,” he said.

“Given the Ministry has already submitted the Award to the Industrial Relations Commission, there’s every possibility the Commission would push through the new Award anyway, including the 4 per cent pay increase and other changes. This has been done in the past.

“It’s important to note that until the previous government’s wages policy is repealed, the Commission can’t make awards with higher pay increases unless the government agrees, and the government won’t agree unless they feel significant pressure to do so.”

Shaye Candish said there are undeniable gains in the proposed agreement but “it remains to be seen if this is enough to attract and retain nurses and midwives in our public health system”.

“The trends are in the right direction but the government needs to understand that improvements in pay and conditions in aged care, which are now also beginning to flow into private hospitals, will give nurses choices about where they want to work.

“The government needs to move away from the mentality that health is an expense that burdens the bottom line, and see it as an investment in the wellbeing of New South Wales.” n