NSW:Nurses offered 9.7% pay rise, more staff

AAP General News (Australia)
02-01-2011
NSW:Nurses offered 9.7% pay rise, more staff

SYDNEY, Feb 1 AAP - NSW nurses have been offered a 9.7 per cent pay rise over two years
and improved staffing levels after industrial action that saw hundreds of beds closed
in public hospitals across the state.

The NSW Nurses' Association (NSWNA) launched the action in early January, demanding
a ratio of one nurse to every four patients to improve standards of care.

The union said it had received an offer from the state government that amounted to
the equivalent of a 1:4 staffing ratio in most major to medium-sized hospitals across
the state.

The staffing ratios would vary depending on the time of day, NSWNA assistant secretary
Judith Kiejda told AAP on Tuesday.

The government offered a 9.7 per cent pay rise up to 2012, partly backdated to July 2010.

"It (the offer) provides the building blocks for what we are after," Ms Kiejda said.

"It will take more years of negotiating before we are ultimately where we want to be.

"But it's certainly a very good cornerstone."

The pay increase will take the basic weekly salary of a first-year registered nurse/midwife
from $984.50 in July 2010 to $1039.40 in July 2012, draft documents published by the nurses'
association showed.

Senior nurse/midwife managers' weekly pay would rise to $2049.60 under the same proposals.

The state government offer will be considered by the NSWNA council on Tuesday afternoon.

If it recommends the offer, it will be put to a member vote and a final decision will
probably be announced in mid-February, Ms Kiejda said.

Union members began closing hospital beds on January 4.

At the height of the industrial action almost 600 beds were shut.

AAP mdg/tr/jl

KEYWORD: NURSES NSW

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