Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
Nurses and midwives would have pocketed an extra $80,000 in the past decade if NSW abolished its public sector wage caps, a new union report has revealed.
The report by the Australian Institute for the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) found that, in the past financial year, an experienced nurse or midwife working full-time was earning $335 less per week than they would have under collective bargaining.
The association estimated nurses and midwives cumulatively lost about $80,000 in wages since the caps were imposed in 2012.
An experienced nurse or midwife was expected to lose $12,500 in superannuation — including lower contributions and reduced investment income — by 2023-24.
Report author and economist Dr Jim Stanford said the figures painted a grim picture for the future of nurses and midwives as rising cost of living stretches family budgets to the brink.
NSWNMA general secretary Shaye Candish called on the NSW Government to abolish the “cruel” caps and return to a collective bargaining system.
“Most nurses and midwives will fall well short of the thresholds considered for a comfortable’ retirement,” she said.
“This is a confronting prospect, especially for women, single retirees, and renters.”
“According to the report, an experienced female nurse or midwife who is single and renting will fall more than 50 per cent below the comfortable retirement threshold.”
The NSW Government increased the public sector wage cap to 3 per cent earlier this year with the potential to increase it to 3.5 per cent next year based on productivity gains.
Premier Dominic Perrottet has previously pushed back against union cries to abolish the wage cap.
He argued that he needed to stand up for the 8 million people across NSW who would foot the bill for a wage rise.
Treasurer Matt Kean said removing the wage cap is estimated to cost the budget “a $30bn black hole”.
“Our nurses are among the best paid in Australia and we recently agreed to a wage increase of up to 6.5 per cent over the next two years,” he said.
