Local Hospital Nurses Get Jan Raise

Date: 15 December 2003

About 35,000 registered and enrolled nurses working in NSW public hospitals and health care facilities will receive a 3.5 per cent pay rise in January 2004 after the NSW Industrial Relations Commission today agreed to another special pay rise for public hospital nurses.

This 3.5 per cent rise is the final wage rise granted by the NSW IRC in the NSW Nurses Association's (NSWNA) special wages and conditions case and comes on top of the six per cent interim rise it granted last December.

As part of its What's a Nurse Worth? campaign the NSWNA sought, through this special case, a one-off 15 per cent pay rise, qualification allowances and retention allowances for nurses. The case began in mid-June 2002 and the Full Bench hearing the case was NSW IRC President, Justice Lance Wright, Justice Roger Boland and Commissioner Ray Patterson.

Today's decision means that from January 2004 registered and enrolled nurse wages, for a full time employee in a public hospital or public health service, will go up by between $23.00 and $73.00 per week depending on their classification.

The majority of general ward nurses - Registered Nurse Year 8 - will receive a $36.00 per week pay rise. A full-time new graduate nurse - Registered Nurse Year 1 - will receive a rise of $26.00 per week.

When combined with this year's nine per cent pay rise negotiated between the State Government and NSWNA, this latest rise means registered and enrolled nurses in public hospitals and health facilities have received a 19.75 per cent pay rise (after compounding) in the last twelve months. For a full-time Registered Nurse Year 8 that is a weekly rise of $177.60. The What's a Nurse Worth campaign, through this special wages and conditions case, has delivered more than $95.00 of that.

As part of its final decision the NSW IRC has also granted nurses a qualifications allowance and ordered the NSWNA and Health Department to finalise the terms of such an allowance. It has also agreed to give nurses a new legal entitlement to fair and safe workloads. The Full Bench rejected the NSWNA's application for a retention allowance.
NSWNA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said the NSW IRC has again sent a positive message to the nurses of NSW today and we look forward to seeing more nurses return to the profession as a result of this latest rise.

"I am disappointed that this latest pay rise does not yet go to assistants in nursing (AIN), but the IRC has given us leave to run another case to fix that problem. We will be running that case for our public sector AINs as soon as we can.

"However, on balance this final decision from the NSW IRC is an excellent one for the public hospital nurses of NSW and on behalf of those nurses I would like to thank the people of NSW for the strong support they have given our What's a Nurse Worth campaign," Mr Holmes said.

The NSWNA's What's a Nurse Worth? campaign was launched in July 2001 at the Association's annual conference, with the objective of solving the NSW nurse shortage through improved wages and conditions for nurses. Hospital and health services around the State have been cut because there are insufficient nurses to staff them.

As well as this special wages case, the What's a Nurse Worth? campaign has included public-awareness events in cities, suburbs and towns throughout the State, stop work meetings and rallies at various hospitals and a Statewide public-sector nurses' strike on 18 October 2001. As part of the campaign, the NSWNA also collected more than 120,000 signatures on what is believed to be the biggest petition ever presented to the NSW Parliament.

Dates set for special aged care wages and conditions case

The Full Bench of the NSW IRC this afternoon also listed dates in May, June and July next year to hear the NSWNA's special wages and conditions case for aged care nurses.

As part of its A Fair Share for Aged Care campaign the NSWNA has applied to the NSW IRC to vary the Nursing Homes, &c., Nurses' (State) Award (308 I.G 45), in respect of a number of matters, including rates of pay and work-related allowances, qualifications allowances, reasonable workloads, overtime, the role of NSWNA workplace branch officers and paid parental leave.

The NSWNA's application to run this major case is being made on behalf of nearly 20,000 assistants in nursing, enrolled nurses and registered nurses in more than 900 residential aged care facilities throughout NSW. The decision to go ahead with a major industrial case follows the continued failure of NSW aged care employers to offer their nurses wages parity with public hospital nurses in NSW.

The NSWNA's A Fair Share for Aged Care campaign was launched in mid-2002 and is aimed at getting increased funding and improved staffing levels in nursing homes and hostels. As part of the campaign various community events have been held, including two Statewide "Pink" Days of Action, and in September this year a delegation of about 100 aged care nurses from NSW went to Canberra to present a 90,000-signature petition to Federal Parliament.

For further information

Contact:	Brett Holmes
Phone:	02 9550 3244

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