A widescale nurses' strike has triggered warnings to keep ambulances and EDs clear of minor cases as Labor feels heat for "refusing" to fix a gender pay gap. or signup to continue reading Nurses and midwives were expected to walk off the job across NSW for 12 hours on Tuesday after demands for a 15-per-cent pay rise this year were rebuffed. NSW Health, which had begun contacting patients about postponing surgeries, challenged the strike in the state's industrial relations commission on Monday, emerging victorious late in the afternoon.
The commission had ordered the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association to cease the strike action immediately. In the face of official orders to halt their strike, rallies are scheduled in 16 locations including Albury, Newcastle, Tamworth and outside Premier Chris Minns' electorate office in Sydney. Life-preserving staffing will be maintained but longer waits in emergency departments and planned surgery cancellations are expected.
Health Minister Ryan Park pointed the community to Healthdirect, urgent care services and telehealth GP clinics. "We remind the community of alternative options already available to them for less urgent minor conditions and keep emergency departments and ambulances for saving lives," he said. Concerns over the health impact prompted the state's industrial relations commission on Monday afternoon to order the union cease its scheduled action.
But the undeterred union said members were not taking industrial action lightly.