Nurses, teachers, guards: All the strike action planned for 2022
The state’s top union leader has declared 2022 will be the year of the strike unless the government meets its demand for higher wages. Find out who’s planning to walk of the job.
NSW
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The state’s top union leader has declared that 2022 will be the year of the strike unless the government meets its demand for higher wages.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey told The Daily Telegraph last week’s nurses’ strike was only the beginning, with a spike in the cost of living and a predicted interest rate hike meaning frontline workers needed a pay rise in the upcoming state budget.
“For as long as the wage cap remains in place there will be strikes. They will happen next week, next month and the month after that,” Mr Morey said.
“This is not an easy decision for workers to make. No one relishes going on strike. But these workers … have little alternative. Everything is going up except their pay and they have no capacity to bargain for higher wages.”
Unions, including the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), Health Services Union (HSU), NSW Nurses and Midwives Association and the Teachers Federation, say the state government’s 2.5 per cent cap on annual wage increases is not only unfair but also suppresses wages in the private sector.
Already teachers have flagged further strike action, and bus drivers for three companies gave fare free travel last week while some paramedics imposed a 24-hour work ban on filling off-station shortages.
“Of course, Dominic Perrottet and Matt Kean can end all of this very quickly by allowing nurses, paramedics, teachers and other pandemic heroes to bargain for a fair wage rise,” Mr Morey said.
The warning has prompted a furious response from business groups and the state government.
“The people of NSW have endured two years of Covid-19 disruption and unions should not be proudly trumpeting the idea of constant strikes,” Finance and Employee Relations Minister Damien Tudehope told The Daily Telegraph.
“Ongoing strike action like this demonstrates a complete lack of respect for the people of NSW.”
The government also expressed its disappointment with NSW Labor for supporting strikes, including the most recent protest from the nurses union which was blocked by the Industrial Relations Commission.
“The NSW Labor leader and his senior shadow ministers were all out supporting the illegal strike, but their ‘bob each way’ approach saw Labor not committing to introduce the form of ratios that the union is demanding,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
Business NSW chief executive Daniel Hunter told The Telegraph small businesses would suffer if strike action continued. “The last thing the business community needs is ongoing uncertainty – we’ve just come out of two years of not knowing when we can open our doors,” he said.
“Snap strikes have a huge impact on business and those striking don’t seem to understand the impact on small business – often it’s staff having to stay at home and look after children, and as a result its small businesses that tend to suffer more than most.
“There’s a way of making very important points about workplace conditions without causing widespread disruption to businesses that simply can’t afford them.”
However Mr Morey said basics such as petrol and housing were becoming unaffordable for workers, whose wages were actually going backwards in real terms.
“The last quarterly inflation numbers said the cost of living was up 3.5 per cent in the past year, while wages only increased 2.2 per cent,” he said.
“If you feel like you’re going backwards, it’s probably because you are.”
Mr Morey said the state government also had a moral obligation to the workers who were on the frontline in the fight against Covid-19.
“These are the very people who exposed themselves to the risk of Covid. When the pandemic began, the executive class retreated to airconditioned home offices, delivered lunches and zoom meetings,” he said.
“By contrast, hundreds of thousands of essential workers risked Covid, exposing themselves to a then-unknown virus that could wreak havoc with their health.”
Mr Morey argued a wage rise would be good for the economy.
“Allowing a nurse, teacher or transport worker a modest pay rise is the best way to breathe economic life into our regions and suburbs,” he said.
“After all, workers on modest incomes are more likely to spend in their local economy and stimulate growth.”
HSU member and paramedic Tess Oxley took part in the union’s industrial action in mid 2021 and is not afraid to keep pushing the demand for better working conditions.
“Industrial action is always a last resort, especially as a health worker, but unfortunately it seems to be the only thing that is getting them to listen,” she said.
“Over the next 12 to 18 months what we want is acknowledgment of what we do and to be compensated fairly.”
NSW Nurses and Midwives Association member and midwife Zoe Edwards said she would support further industrial action from her union.
“We have to strike because our pleas for help for the last few years have fallen on deaf ears. There is just so much anger and people need to channel that into something,” she said.
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