The nursing union is forging ahead with its planned industrial action this afternoon, rejecting a final plea by Premier Mark McGowan to abandon the strike and return to the negotiating table.
The nursing union is forging ahead with its planned industrial action this afternoon, rejecting a final plea by Premier Mark McGowan to abandon the strike and return to the negotiating table.
The decision this afternoon came just hours after Mr McGowan vowed to hold off on dragging in the industrial arbitrator in the hope the dispute could be resolved.
On Monday evening, the government gave the Australian Nursing Federation in-principle support to the ratio of four patients per nurse it demanded in a bid to ease workload pressure, vowing to introduce the ratios by 2025.
The two have been sparring for weeks over the wages deal, with the ANF pushing for an increase of at least 5 per cent a year for two years and the government standing firm on 3 per cent and a one-off $3,000 payment.
But thousands of nurses rallying late last week called on the union to request a pay rise of 10 per cent over two years and another $1,500 in cost-of-living payments.
ANF members voted in favour of its planned double shift bans and rolling strikes today, despite Mr McGowan making a final plea for nurses to consider the offer.
He said the government was willing to bring forward the introduction of the ratio plan if it could, but conceded that would depend on its complexity.
Mr McGowan said he was not inclined to ask the Industrial Relations Commission to intervene at this stage.
“Obviously, we have a very large state, we have hospitals and health services spread throughout the state and it's different to Victoria, in particular, which is a very small state, and very heavily urbanised,” he said.
“You also might have different levels of nurse to patient ratio depending upon the nature of the ward or the nature of the part of the hospital.
“There's not an easy, one size fits all solution here and it needs to be worked through.
“The nurses union has recognised that; they said they wanted in principle agreement and we've given them what they asked for.
“We just would like to see no industrial action today or in the coming days, because we've exceeded what was asked for and nurses have had a big win in Western Australia.
“We want to work through the details with our nursing workforce and the unions to get to a good outcome that suits the needs of the state.”
Mr McGowan reiterated that the deal on offer was better than that issued by the NSW and Victorian governments.
When asked about whether he was worried about the health and safety of patients in the face of imminent strike action, Mr McGowan said he was confident the state’s nursing workforce would act with the highest of integrity towards patients.
He also rejected claims the state could afford to throw more money at healthcare workers given its multi-billion dollar surplus, insisting the state needed to prepare for the threat of a worldwide recession next year.
Business News reported yesterday that the state government was unable to confirm the costings for the nurse-to-patient ratio promise.
