Up to 65,000 nurses and midwives in NSW are set to walk off the job on Wednesday in a strike for pay rises including 15 per cent in one year, as the Minns Labor government tries to avoid a broader wages blowout after handing police a massive salary increase.

Premier Chris Minns refused to budge on his pay offer for nurses, whose union referenced this week’s up to 40 per cent hike for NSW police and increases for other frontline government workers as bolstering their claims.