Public sector workers say there'll be industrial action unless the state government meets their pay demands. Nurses, police officers and firefighters have been offered a 10.5% pay rise over 3 years, but unions say it won't be enough to address critical shortages in the workforce.
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00:00 It's been a while since firefighters turned the hose on politicians, but a cost of living
00:06 crisis has put the Labor government in their sights.
00:10 We've left no option off the table in the industrial action that we will take.
00:14 The government's made a pay offer to more than 400,000 public sector workers, including
00:19 nurses, police, firefighters, prison guards and community services caseworkers.
00:25 A 10.5% pay rise over three years, which includes a superannuation increase.
00:30 We said that we would scrap the wages cap and we did and we promised to deliver certainty
00:36 and we have.
00:37 The government's also offering a cost of living sweetener.
00:40 In any year that inflation exceeds 4.5%, workers will be given a $1,000 payment.
00:46 It's just voodoo economics.
00:48 If they have $1,000 available, they should put that into the pay packets of essential
00:53 workers now.
00:54 The government's offer falls well short of firefighters' demands for 20% over three years,
01:00 police want 25% over four years and nurses and midwives say they need 15% immediately.
01:07 If New South Wales wants to recruit and retain the nursing and midwifery workforce that it
01:12 needs, then it has to at least match Queensland.
01:16 The government's bargaining position is weakened by the fact that it's already awarded historic
01:20 pay rises to paramedics and teachers.
01:23 Other unions have seen that Labor's willing to dig deep and now they want their members
01:27 to have a piece of that pie.
01:29 The Treasurer says today's offer is a floor, not a ceiling.
01:33 If any union would like us to go above it, then we have a process with them in which
01:38 we can find the offsetting savings and productivity gains that would support it.
01:43 This government has lost control of the budget.
01:45 It has told union bosses one thing, you're going to get big wage increases.
01:49 It's told the taxpayers something else, it won't cost you anything.
01:52 (Train horn)
01:54 Unions have already begun negotiations, some more quietly than others.
01:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]