NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey has hailed a 4 per cent pay offer plus 0.5 per cent superannuation as the best wages deal for public sector workers in a decadeCredit:James Alcock
The offer,which wasrevealed by this masthead last month,would apply to a swath of public sector workers whose agreements are due to expire at the end of this month,including the Health Services Union.
Mookhey hailed the offer as the largest single pay increase for the sector in more than a decade and said it would effectively make the previous government’s controversial wages cap “redundant”.
“We’re making progress and there is more work to do,” he said.
The new government has been under significant pressure to come good on its promise to scrap that cap. On Monday,Mookhey announced a new taskforce led by former Fair Work Commission deputy president Anna Booth and former Industrial Relations Commission president Roger Boland to begin work on a new IR framework in the state.
But the interim offer has not been resoundingly welcome. NSW HSU boss Gerard Hayes has been a vocal critic of the government for failing to move faster on wages,and while he said the offer will be presented to its members,he believes it “falls short”.
“The last monthly inflation read showed the cost of living increased 6.8 per cent in the last 12 months,” he said.
“NSW Health has an attraction and retention crisis that is draining our hospitals of the essential workers they need. The HSU intends to keep campaigning for a pay rise that recognises the skills and workload of health and hospital workers and the extraordinary cost of living pressures they face.”