Nurses set to strike for 20pc rise

Nurses are demanding a 20 per cent pay rise over three years to make them the highest paid nurses in Australia.

Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, Mark Olson, yesterday said the union was “unashamedly” pushing its pay demands before the next election, well ahead of the expiration of the current deal in June next year.

Mr Olson warned nurses may stage strikes to push their pay demands, with a recent survey of members showing 70 per cent already support industrial action.

Industrial action would no doubt embarrass the Barnett Government at the March election as it seeks to prove its commitment to public health.

Mr Olson said the average annual salary for nurses was $73,000 and the pay rise would push it up to $87,000. He said the increase would restore parity with teachers’ wages.

“WA has the highest paid teachers in Australia and the highest paid police,” he said.

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t also have the highest paid nurses in the most expensive State in Australia,” he said.

The union is also calling for a new $1000 annual retention bonus, in a bid to stem the exodus of nurses in the ageing workforce.

The log of demands sent yesterday to the State Government also calls for generous new penalty rates, increasing the loading for afternoon shifts from 15 to 20 per cent.

They want the Friday afternoon penalty to jump from 15 to 25 per cent to compensate nurses who would rather go out.

The ANF want nurses to win the right convert unused sick leave into annual leave, potentially giving nurses an extra two weeks holiday each year.

Commerce minister Simon O’Brien said nurses had already received a generous pay increase of 4.5 per cent this year, but would not comment further.

“Negotiations on the nurses EBA are not scheduled to start until January,” he said.

“We are simply not going to pre-empt these negotiations.”