The 24-hour stop-work action by nurses and midwives on Tuesday will affect elective surgery and cause delays for some patients, while support for life-saving care is not expected to be impacted.
The government had not made a genuine attempt to negotiate on pay and conditions, NSW Nurses and Midwives general secretary Shaye Candish said.
"The state government could have stopped this industrial action from occurring by coming to the table with an improved offer, but it has chosen to ignore us repeatedly," Ms Candish said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Nurses and midwives are outraged by the government's unwillingness to negotiate beyond its insulting three per cent offer, especially since we found the savings to fund the pay rise," she said.
For 24 hours from today's morning shift, nurses and midwives will be ON STRIKE!— NSW Nurses & Midwives (@nswnma) We're doing this for fair pay and improved conditions, because our communities deserve so much more than what the NSW government is offering. pic.twitter.com/QjkfjolyzHSeptember 23, 2024
Industrial Relations Commission president Ingmar Taylor had not yet examined the union's argument for pay rises, but recommended an interim deal and four weeks of "intensive discussions" in a bid to broker a deal.
Health Minister Ryan Park said officials had sought to contact patients with surgery scheduled to make alternative arrangements due to the industrial action.
"I acknowledge the dispute between the government and the association has a way to go," he said on Monday.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association action started at 7am in the union's second major stop-work action since Labor came to power in March 2023.
The strike is part of a union push for a 15 per cent, one-year pay rise, a demand Premier Chris Minns has said is unaffordable.
"I just can't agree to (it)," Mr Minns said on Monday.
"As a result of the nurses claim and demands at the last election for ratios, or safe-staffing levels, in NSW hospitals, which the government agreed to, we've had to recruit 2000 nurses."
Other workers would be lining up for pay rises too if the nurses got the 15 per cent they sought, he said.
Premier Chris Minns believes the nurses are asking for too much. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)
All NSW public sector workers, including nurses, have been offered a three-year, 10.5 per cent pay increase factoring in a mandatory rise in superannuation payments.
Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the government needed to make sure the strike did not compromise patient safety.
"It's also incumbent from the nurses union to co-operate to the same extent," he said.
Public rallies are planned outside parliament house in Sydney as well as in Tweed Heads and Albury near the Queensland and Victorian borders, two states the union says nurses are moving to in order to secure better pay.
Minimal, life-preserving staff levels will remain in public hospitals and health services during the strike, the union said.
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