Susanna Freymark
Cars didn’t stop tooting as they drove slowly by the nurses, midwives and other hospital staff protesting outside Lismore Base Hospital today, Tuesday, July 30.
The rally was to highlight the need for a 15% pay increase nurses say they deserve and for better conditions.
Deb Schneider said Casino was losing nurses and 80% of staff were agency nurses at Casino Memorial Hospital.
Penelope Anderson from the Nurses and Midwives Association helped to organise the rally.
“Queensland nurses get 15% more than us and better conditions,” she said.
One condition, Ms Anderson wanted to see offered to nurses was night duty shift penalty rates.
“Nurses are leaving every single week to go to Queensland,” she said.
Earlier this year Premier Chris Minns said 6500 nurses were leaving the profession and quitting in large numbers.
He said the government needed to address the 12% of the nursing workforce leaving the NSW public system each year.
The Nurses and Midwives Association said high levels of exhaustion and a decade of wage suppression, coupled with rising cost-of-living pressures, had taken a considerable toll on the nursing and midwifery workforce.
The focus of their Value Us public health campaign is to recognise the important contribution nurses and midwives make. This can be done by paying them a fair and deserving wage.
