Hundreds of Hunter nurses and midwives joined a huge rally in Sydney on Wednesday to renew calls for a one-year 15 per cent pay rise. Login or signup to continue reading The rally was part of a 24-hour statewide strike over the NSW government's "appalling disrespect for nurses and midwives". It followed two strikes - for 12 hours and 24 hours - over the same issue in September.
John Hunter Hospital branch secretary for the nurse union Linda Mobbs said about 12,000 people attended the rally. Ms Mobbs said about 450 John Hunter nurses were on strike in total, as the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association ramped up action. Nurses from Maitland, Belmont and Cessnock hospitals were also among the crowd.
The NSW government announced last week that police would get a "generational" pay increase of up to 40 per cent over four years. Ms Mobbs said this "incensed nurses even more and drove extra numbers to the rally". She said Premier Chris Minns had made comments about public sector workers "getting the same pay rise".
The Minns government offered a 10.5 per cent wage increase to all public-sector workers over three years. "When we put our claim in for the 15 per cent, he said he couldn't possibly do that because everyone would come knocking at the door," Ms Mobbs said.
"Well he's opened the door and slammed it in our face." Ms Mobbs said police deserve the pay rise, as "they do a great job under hard conditions". "They reckon they had to give that pay rise because their recruitment and.