A large number of nurses and midwives from the across the Illawarra Shoalhaven will strike for up to 12 hours today with some heading to Sydney to rally outside parliament house later this morning despite an order from the Industrial Relations Commission not to proceed.
President of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Mental Heath Nurses Branch of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, Glenn Hayes said the action has been a long time coming.
"We've been trying to negotiate for things like ratios for safe patient care for a number of years now.
"Looking at the amount of work that members have been doing they've been absolutely exhausted they're sort of at the their wits end in terms of covering shifts and the workload that's been associated with our role on top of COVID.
"We just need support in terms of staffing numbers and I guess there's also been the concern that we've had our pay frozen for the last number of years and that we'd actually just like it be reinstated to what was initially agreed to which was a 2.5% annual increase," he said.
Hayes said today's action is a last resort from members who wished they didn't have to take a stand.
"None of us want to strike.
"We want to be at work, we want to deliver the possible care that we can to the people we look after and we want to look after ourselves but we just can't do it unless we really make a stand and let people know that we're at out wits end, it is sort of a last ditch effort," Hayes said.
Some nurses and midwives will strike for between eight and 12 hours from 7am while others will walk out of wards for a couple of hours.
Hayes said there will still be nurses at the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District's hospitals to care for patients.
"We've also got members that we realise can't afford to actually take time off work.
"So they're actually doing us a huge favour by covering for us and supporting us whilst they're staying on duty," he said.
Hayes said the NSW state government has been hypocritical throughout the pandemic.
"It's really hard to sort of hear that you're appreciated and you're valued and then you're actually having money taken away from your earning capacity and you're actually not supported in terms of staff numbers.
"I know a lot of the services have been trying really hard to support their staff but they're in the same boat I guess in terms of how they can operate and we'd like the government to actually come to the table and support us with that," he said.
Today's strike has forced the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District to close its COVID-19 assessment clinics at Wollongong and Shoalhaven Hospitals.
The LHD said those needing a PCR test will need to visit a private pathology clinic.
Images: Shellharbour Hospital Branch NSWNMA and Peter Andrea
