Nurses and teachers raise the pressure in pay fight with State Government

Teachers will enter critical bargaining talks as nurses march on Parliament seeking a better deal from the State Government.

Australian Education Union state manager Roz Madsen says the Tasmanian school system depends on teachers’ goodwill. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

TEACHERS will enter critical bargaining talks as nurses march on State Parliament seeking a better deal from the State Government.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation members will on Thursday take to the streets of Hobart seeking a more competitive offer from the Government.

ANMF state secretary Emily Shepherd said nurse pay rises were overdue.

“Historically, nurses and midwives would have been awarded a pay rise in the first fortnight of December, yet instead they will be rallying outside Parliament House just to get the Tasmanian Government to come to the negotiating table with a respectful offer,” she said.

“The ANMF entered good faith negotiations with the Tasmanian Government on May 31 this year and to date have not been able to negotiate an outcome for members.

“Despite the enormous challenges in health, the Tasmanian Government are still yet to put a competitive offer on the table to nurses and midwives that will enable quality care delivery both now and into the future.”

Ms Shepherd said her members – fatigued by overtime, double shift demands and challenges associated with bed block due to lack of capacity – did not have endless goodwill.

Australian Education Union negotiators will meet their government counterparts on Friday in a bid to break the deadlock that escalated into industrial action.

AEU state manager Roz Madsen said teachers wanted a new enterprise agreement to ease workloads and increased pay more than the 2 per cent on offer.

“The Government has repeatedly focused on simplistic ways of dealing with what is a complex issue and the 2 per cent offer has been soundly rejected by teachers, principals and support staff,” she said.

Ms Madsen said she hoped the Premier would support respectful negotiations. She said the education system was dependent on the goodwill of teachers.