Pass the Mic - Nurses and Midwives on Strike

05/03/2021

Dan Kelly

The Pass the Mic series works to give voice to those in our community who suffer the most from the oppression of the capitalist and colonialist state in Australia. Everyone has a right to be heard and express their grievances. The team at the Militant Monthly are on the frontlines reaching out to those who’ve got something to say, and giving them the space to say it. Let us uplift the voices of the working class in Australia.

On the 15th of February, the staunch members of the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) went on strike over the unsafe and unfair conditions they have been continually subjected to by the New South Wales Government. These conditions put the safety of these brave frontline workers at risk, as well as the broader public in the midst of a pandemic.

The Militant Monthly reached out to a member and delegate of the NSWNMA to hear their perspective on just how dire the conditions for our nurses and midwives are. We get stuck into how the NSW Government has left them with no other option, and how these staunch frontline workers will not back down from fighting for the safety of not just themselves, but the community as a whole.

Nursing and Scrapping - A Radical Nurse's Perspective

I: Now, for those who don’t know, the other day the NSWMNA went on strike over the unsafe staff-patient ratios, conditions and unfair pay that currently exist in NSW because of government inaction. Can you give us a bit of insight on these key reasons and what personally prompted you to take action?

A: Yeah, so I feel like it’s probably worth telling a little story to explain my involvement. So I’ve been involved in the union for a long time and come from a background of unionists, and so I remember the first struggle with my branch at the hospital I work at over staffing issues with our executive. And I was just so charmed by how militant my branch was and how staunch we were, and the discussion about IRC threats back then, and it really made me feel the power of the NSWNMA.

Of course, as the pandemic started developing, I feel like it just brought the politics to our front door, especially as nurses. Already we were livid, and then they put the wage freeze on us in 2020, the international year of the midwife, in the middle of a goddamn pandemic! So we were livid, and then in mid-2021 there was just this rolling striking at different hospitals with different branches. My hospital was one of the last, getting our strike in the 11th hour just before lockdown came, a very delayed and long lockdown for all of us, I might add. That lockdown really showed how disadvantaged people were. People of a low socioeconomic status were essentially being gaslit by the government who were saying ‘why are you going out?’, when these people were forced to go to work because they were left in the hands of capital and the bosses. It was on their hands, all these people suffering.

So we got smashed with Delta, and that stopped us in our tracks, and our pay dispute got shoved through by the IRC and the government and we couldn’t fight it, then we got hit by the Omicron wave because the government prioritised business interests over the public’s safety. Then all of our staff started getting sick and we really felt that, and we were so mad that we weren’t being listened to, and that rolled us into this action, with the union and delegates passing a motion to take action. 90% of members voted for a strike in hospitals, and a number of branches went full guns blazing for 24 hours, which set the tone for how angry [we] are. As nurses, we don’t want to leave our fellow staff and patients, but we have been left with no other option. We need to stand up not just for ourselves, but for our communities and everybody else, and we felt a responsibility to set that tone. It’s the same with the Ambo’s, the R.T.B.U., the T.W.U. and the teachers’ union. So yeah, we felt responsible to stand up and push it.

I: Yeah it was great to see it, especially as other unions have been hampered by pandemic conditions, leadership, and the positioning of their members. We’ve seen a lot of actions that have been able to be as effective as needed, so it was very impressive to see the NSWNMA step out and take a stand. I just wanted to go into what you were talking about with how dire the conditions are in NSW with hospitals and health centres.

We’ve heard how staff have been overworked, resources have been pushed to the brink, and how the safety of patients and the public is continually being jeopardised. So what are some of your personal experiences with these conditions and just how dire the situation actually is?

A: Well, you see a lot of upsetting situations where you get a patient transferred, as we’ve had to shuffle patients all over the city. As nurses, we work really well as a team and take care to help lighten the load. But we have people getting transferred that haven’t been taken care of properly because other hospitals are at the breaking point and their resources are stretched to the limit. As a result, due to this under-staffing and overworking, and the need to make space for patients, people’s safety is being jeopardised.

I remember making a 000 call for a Category Two patient that required emergency treatment within half an hour. That person had to wait four hours for an ambulance, and I was on hold for 20 minutes when calling 000. There [are] all these ambulances that are ramped up out the front of emergency departments, and in the middle of summer we’ve had to set up triage tents out the front. We’ve got people there in full PPE in the middle of an Australian summer working 8 hour shifts, talking to patients and rushing around the whole time in the heat without water. It just creates this environment that isn’t conducive for anyone’s wellbeing or health, and it starts to impact your mental health.

The amount of nurses who’ve been contacting mental health services with suicidal ideation has increased something like ten-fold in the last six months! The longer it’s gone on and the failure of the government to support us has led so many to walk out because it’s too depressing and too stressful when you can’t do your job. That’s what we’ve seen: how much it affects the system and the patients.

I: Now, you were saying before, you first fell into being involved with the union because of long-standing issues with how the health system has been treated. Now where do you see the foundations of these issues arising?

A: The whole time I’ve been involved in the NSWNMA, over the last 11 years, there has been this whole fight for safe nurse-to-patient ratios. The last time we had a state-wide strike was 2013, and we’ve had the ALP make election promises. Now obviously political promises and election deals aren’t going to be what win it for us. So there’s been a lot of pushing for this idea that we can’t rely on the political policies of the parties in power that’s going to save us, we need to be pushing and doing it ourselves and I think the pandemic has exacerbated all of this.

When I was a casual, I remember getting put into the midwifery ward with zero experience. But they were so grateful to have an extra pair of hands to run around, because they were so short-staffed. It was like two midwives to 32 patients, with 3 assistants running around doing all the extra work. I have such an appreciation for how understaffed midwifery wards are. The main thing is they don’t count the fact that there are so many more complications and assistance needed for new mothers, and they don’t count the babies. There is so much extra work that goes into dealing with the babies. So whilst there [are] only eight beds, that’s at least sixteen patients. Whoever is making the legislation isn’t taking the facts on the ground into consideration.

In New South Wales, we have a system called nursing hours per patient day. It’s this ugly cold bureaucratic calculation that measures over 24 hour periods rather than shift to shift. So numbers are fudged to balance over the week in a way that doesn’t display the staff shortages on different days. So what we’re asking for is that every shift if there are physically sixteen patients on that ward, there should be at least four registered nurses looking after them. On top of that, there are patient acuity levels that require extra hands. We’re not getting that, and it’s making us run flat out, and puts us at risk of losing our registration if we make a mistake due to being so overworked.

We can fight back, because though there are the intimidation efforts on behalf of the government, it has become clear from discussions the union has been having that Brad Hazzard has no idea what he’s doing, even though he’s supposed to be the fucking health minister!

So it’s clear that Hazzard and Perotet have no idea what they’re doing, so it’s become obvious that we are doing the right thing and we really need to keep pushing, and we won’t be going anywhere. We’re already putting in for another strike action in the next few weeks because these talks and discussions aren’t going anywhere.

The ALP aren’t even committing to anything yet, and I know that the state election is a year away, but they should be feeling that political pressure as well and should be committing to show that solidarity.

I: Yeah big time. Like you said, the government as it currently exists and has for some time, they’ve been treating nurses like they are disposable. People have just been burnt out, used up and pushed away. Because this is a job where you don’t just walk in, stay there a few hours and go home. It’s something people invest in, put their whole lives towards and the fact that these people who are some of the most selfless in the community have been pushed to the point where they are leaving, it just shows how callous the government is. That’s why it was so impressive to see the NSWNMA go ahead with action despite the IRC and government’s attempts to try and stop it at the 11th hour. From what you said it seems like the justified anger of the NSWNMA to go ahead with the action is still there.

A: Well fortunately, none of us are afraid of the IRC. There’s a few reasons, and some of the younger nurses who questioned it following that release the other day thought the strike was off and I had to tell them ‘hell no it doesn’t, it just means it’s really lit now’. So I had to explain how the IRC is just a tool of the government to try and intimidate us, but none of us are going to be personally prosecuted. We’re a union that pays our dues into a big pot. And guess what that pot pays for? Legal battles with the IRC So, if the IRC want to fine us for going against their gag order, then sure. Let’s just do it, because that’s what our money is there for, and our Association has quite a bit of money and has signed up a heap of new members because of this union building and campaigning.

None of us are afraid, because we have been really pushing this sentiment that we are the union and the union is us, and that makes us powerful.

That unity is our strength, and I think that’s a really important message for every worker to see and understand as well, especially the fact that we’re in a crisis. Because that’s when people start to become more awake and aware and start mobilising, its beautiful. So yeah, fuck the IRC. I believe that was a sign at the strike as well.

I: Definitely! I guess in relation to that, it sort of highlights the old saying that ‘there is power in a union’. So how would you say you relate to this statement in regards to the other day’s strike action, and how it also relates to the broader union movement and how it has been adapting to the modern industrial relations battlefield?

A: I feel like saying the modern union movement adapting to the IRC is an interesting way of putting it (laughter). I don’t want to go into a history lesson, but I’m sure people are aware of what happened with the ALP and the Accord back in the day. That was really sold as a sweet deal at the time, but obviously all those promises have been wiggled away over time.

I mean we have had to be fighting to get our 2.5% rise which the government agreed to on our last negotiation. And what do they do? Give a .3% rise to the frontline workers who have essentially been keeping the health of the nation afloat. From aged care, to airport screening to fucking vaccination hubs and quarantine hotels, in addition to the regular ICU’s and regular wards we have that were at breaking point before the pandemic! Because the hospital system is run at a neo-liberal minimal-cost level, that left us no wiggle room when the pandemic came.

I: And this model essentially is what has led to the NSWNMA showing that there still can be power in a union.

A: Yeah, I think that show on Tuesday was really, really important. It was good to see a lot of supporters come out, as well as a lot of younger activists who’ve never seen these sort of large scale, militant disputes. Even the older people, like a lot of the 78er’s and those kinds of people being like this is awesome, I’m so proud of this younger movement that’s actually pushing these things. It’s been really nice for these older nurses that fought so hard for these things back in the 60’s to see us coming out in force, where our politics have sort of been narrowed down the right direction because so many of us are angry and know that we have power.

 I think somebody made a sign saying ‘What are they gonna do, sack us?’ at the rally (laughter). Because at the end of the day we’re not heroes, we’re highly skilled healthcare professionals, and I don’t expect that Hazzard would be able to go and do what all of us do every day. So yeah, what are they gonna do, sack us? I think that’s what the teachers understand, the R.T.B.U. understands, and that’s why they have been striking. So who cares about the IRC, because if you have a union and you unionise, what are they going to do? And I think that message, the more that people see and understand that, it’s going to be better for all of us. It would be awesome to see a general strike some time (laughter).

The nurses can’t hold the picket line because we have patients, but there are other industries that can do that. We’ve seen this with the Toll workers. They had a massive fucking win in that battle there, and I think bringing up all these examples, even smaller wins and battles, like a recent factory win in Western Sydney, and I mean Jesus, even America is unionising. So it’s like ‘fuck yeah’. So that sort of movement that is building in little pockets, and coming together collectively for us in such a massive union in the position we’re in, having had the role we’ve had in the pandemic, to see that show of force is good for us. But it also shows other workers that this is the power of a union.

We made every newspaper, headline, we were on every channel, radio station, and it was actually really interesting because most of the major news outlets had their facts wrong. They were trying, but it clearly showed that they haven’t been aware of their struggles, and I just hope that their awareness gets better as time goes on. Like nobody, except maybe Murdoch or Sky News, was reporting in the right wing’s favour. Everybody else, from the big companies down to independents, was showing empathy and support. We even had our doctors covering nurses so that we could go on strike. These expressions of solidarity were lovely to see, and we saw this from other agencies like the HSU as well. So it’s a really fun movement to see building.

I: Yeah of course, and as we were saying this has all really highlighted that the line is drawn in the sand now. It has become really apparent that either the union movement goes down a path wherein it is sitting on its hands and is reliant on the promises of election politics, or it can reconnect to its roots and rely on what the traditional power base of the union is, which is through membership and building that base to take action and win the rights and protections that members need.

A: Yeah, and I think that the whole time I’ve been in the union, other nurses have said to me like ‘what does the union do for me? They just take my money’. I understand those perspectives, but I feel like they need to be reoriented to the fact that the money they’re paying, like I said, is in this big pot to pay not just for administration issues.

As the members, we’re the ones who need to be active, we’re the ones that have to be motivated, we’re the ones that have to mobilise, we’re the ones that need to go out and fight it, because we’re the ones with the members. Fortunately this whole exercise has sort of reinforced that.

Obviously there are other benefits to the union, they’re just the sprinkles on top of the sundae. But the ice cream is the membership . So it’s nice to see that more members are sort of getting that the rank and file are the ones who are going to drive it. It’s the Association’s job to listen to us and follow us, but if we’re not motivated they’re not going to call a state-wide strike. You can’t have a state-wide strike with 50 people, but you can when you know 5000 members are willing to get an hour-long bus [ride] to stand with us out the front of Parliament House. There has to be that drive and motivation there, and I really hope that the next strike pushes the numbers higher.

I: That’s what we want to see in the movement. Going forward, if there are to be more actions and events, what avenues do you see for the broader public to help support you and show solidarity?

A: Showing up to our rallies, putting posters up, utilising social media for political purposes. Even TikTok, there’s a heap of stuff from the rally on Tuesday and I’m like ‘Hell yeah!’. It’s not going to catch anyone over 35, but it’s going to get the younger people. It’s the same with Twitter and Facebook, and all the solidarity signs we saw sent in. Those little acts of solidarity show that there is this broader public support.

So there’s those things, but there’s also going out and talking to people about what’s going on with the nurses. There’s been a lot of misinformation, and lot of people seem to think we made bank from the pandemic, which is an absolute lie. Going and making the same sort of arguments in your own industries, your own unions, and helping to promote that union sentiment in your own industries is important, especially when we have such a good example of union power.

I: Big time. It sort of is the perfect issue to support in solidarity and go out and educate people about, because anyone who hates nurses and midwives isn’t worth knowing anyway. It’s a great opening to sort of build that broader working class solidarity that the union movement especially needs right now, going into this next crucial stage of what we’ve been facing over the last few years.

A: Definitely, and I think one of the important things people need to understand is that when we do strike as nurses, it’s not what we want to do. None of us want to be leaving our patients with skeleton staff. We’re very compassionate people, which is why we are nurses. You know, we do this job because we actually care, and want to care for people. It’s a rewarding career when given the adequate staffing and resources to look after people in a way that they deserve.

So people understanding we’re doing this out of necessity is an important message for the public. So when we do strike, and we will strike again, it is important that the staff who stay behind make this clear to people. So when my hospital was striking, all the nurses who stayed at work, they explained to the patients why we were having a strike, why their tea was taking longer.

So those things that help support us, like family members coming in to help monitor their relatives, so that we have the pressure eased when striking is a big help. Because ratios, it’s not just about the nurses, but it’s about the patients, and the patients are everyone in NSW. If you haven’t been to hospital yet, then you will, and you will need a nurse. So this is not the last time we are having a state wide strike, it is the first of many.

I: I think it’s good to hear, because the NSW government definitely needs to switch on to the needs of its people, regardless of all its penny-pinching and its politicking. At the end of the day, they have to decide whether they are going to ensure that the people who take care of the health and wellbeing are going to be supported to do their job effectively, or whether the government is going to let people die.

A: Well, I think saying that they’re penny pinching is disputable. They’re only penny pinching in certain areas. I mean look how many people got rich in the pandemic, how their mates rorted the system and how many companies don’t pay any damn tax! Because it’s SO expensive to increase ratios and giver nurses a pay rise along with all the other public sectors. Sorry, but thank you isn’t going to pay my rent. My wages haven’t grown at all and things have got even more expensive since the pandemic. Fuck you! Give me a rise to stay in NSW and continue working here, or everybody in this profession is going to go to Queensland or Tasmania.

Like no fucking shit! Like economically, giving us the ratios and pay we’re asking for so that more nurses are coming into the profession is crucial. Even when I was in uni, the prediction was that by 2030 there was going to be a global nurse deficit. This has become exponentially larger now since the pandemic, because who wants to suffer this distress that breaks your soul. There was this nurse who was talking about how she had to leave a patient who was dying. She was unable to provide the care, attention and love to this person, unable to attend to them for five hours. That is soul crushing, and its making me tear up to even think up it. None of us want to continue on like that because it’s not fair to anybody.

I: There’s so much more to say on it, because it is so callous and heartbreaking the way that these people have been treated. Again, this industry in particular has so many ramifications and follow-on effects for so many people, and they just don’t give a shit.

A: The whole pandemic as well, the government has been talking about how many new ventilators, equipment and hospitals they’ve built. But the thing is if they put all that money and effort into the workforce, most of these issues would be addressed. Because the biggest shortage in healthcare is the people who do the work, not the machines, not the facilities.

The money should be spent on that, with funding allocated to make sure the population is looked after properly. None of that is being done now. They just make things look good on paper so that they can get more votes, and more power and all that political bullshit. I mean we can look at ICAC if we want, and all that scandal and bullshit going on in the background.

They need to wake up and stop running the state and the country like a business, and start running it like something that looks after its population.

I: That’s the thing, this double standard of putting so much money into things that they can profit off of, whilst there’s so much neglect in things like transport, healthcare, and education that we’re just seeing everywhere.

That’s why we were saying before that it is so important that people are waking up to realise that we rely on them because that’s what the community needs to survive and thrive. So following on from this action, what are the results that you want to see come about?

A: Well our demands at the moment are quite simple. For example, we want legally mandated shift-to-shift ratios, which is basically saying there needs to be one nurse to every three patients in emergency. In the wards, we want one to four every twenty-four hours, so that if there’s more patients, there’s more nurses. Three other states in Australia already have those ratios! We want our bare minimum 2.5% that is owed to us to be back-paid to the beginning 2020 thank you very much, and also we want the government to go backwards on trying to remove the Covid leave payments, and dropping the assumption that if you got Covid, it is not from work.

We don’t deserve to be using our sick leave when it’s the government’s fault that we’re all getting it because they let it rip. So fuck you. Let’s go back on that one. We also still have an award negotiation to go through as well, which has an even larger list of demands. So we’ve got a long, delightful strike season ahead I reckon, and that’s exactly why we won’t be done striking for a while. Looking forward to more fights.

I: Fucking oath. We’ll be glad to be watching and helping out with it. Before we go, do you have any parting words for our audience?

A: I think it’s important for any of us who are paying attention to these kinds of issues and politics to be spreading the message and the word, spread that solidarity and encourage people to join their industrial unions, to get more active in them and to feel that you have a voice and its okay to go to your branch and say ‘Hey, I have an idea’. Because the sooner that you get active and get involved in it, the more that you will actually see things change in the way that you want them to. I think that’s the most important thing. Also come out and join us! If you’ve never been to a rally before, come to the next one because you will be so safe surrounded by nurses, midwives and our supporters! Everyone I know who has come along, they have all said how empowering they are, and it reminds you that there is more of us then there is of them, and you need to remember [that].

I: That’s it! Hold the bastards accountable. You’ve put it very eloquently, and we want to thank you for all the work you’ve done in addition to your actual job because of these bastards, and we’ll be standing by you in solidarity in future actions. So good on the Nurses and Midwives, and for everyone else out there, in the words of our esteemed guest, get active and get involved.