Nurses and midwives in Victoria are set to get a massive pay rise. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Victoria’s hardworking nurses and midwives are to get a massive pay rise after Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation members voted in favour of a heads-of-agreement.
The four-year deal will see nurses and midwives delivered a wage increase of 28.4 per cent, helping to retain and recruit more nurses in Victoria.
The agreement also improves gender wage equity in the state. The nursing and midwifery workforce is overwhelmingly female, and the Fair Work Commission (FWC) found that the profession had been historically undervalued based on unfair assumptions about gender.
The significant new deal provides certainty about wages affected by the Fair Work Commission’s decision in the Aged Care Work Value Case.
In addition to the wage increase, Premier Jacinta Allan said the agreement backed the existing workforce and encouraged a new generation of nurses and midwives by delivering:
- Preserved longstanding career structures and opportunities for progression
- Incentivised permanent work through a new change of ward allowance which will compensate nurses and midwives when they are moved from their base ward – so employers stop using redeployment and casual workers as a business-as-usual rostering practice
- Improved night shift penalties for permanent nurses and midwives
- A right-to-disconnect clause
- Improved access to flexible working arrangements, recognising that nurses are available 24/7
- Reducing the qualifying period for parental leave from six months to zero, and
- Recognition of service for interstate public sector nurses and midwives who have relocated to Victoria.
The deal builds on previous enterprise agreements to provide more certainty for Victoria’s nurses and midwives.
“We’re proud to give nurses and midwives better pay and improved conditions – it’s absolutely what they deserve,” Ms Allan said.
“It’s a win for all Victorians, because better paid nurses and midwives means a better health system.”
Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas agreed.
“This is a once-in-a-generation pay increase for our dedicated nurses and midwives – helping us strengthen and grow our existing and future workforce.
“We’ll always back our nurses and midwives and the extraordinary work they do to keep each and every one of us healthy and safe.”
