5 May 2022
EB22 Update 1 – Let’s Get Started!
The ANMF (SA Branch) has been busy preparing for the upcoming Public Sector Nurses and Midwives Enterprise Agreement 2022-2025. This agreement covers all enrolled and registered nurses and midwives working in the SA public sector.
Your current agreement expires on 16 July 2022 and will continue to operate until a new agreement is in place.
Your new agreement will be negotiated with the Department of Treasury and Finance (as your delegated employer), the Department for Health and Wellbeing and the Department of Human Services.
We have listened to what members have been saying over the life of the current Agreement and we believe that the 2022 negotiations will need to centre around two critical issues - staffing and wages.
Ratios
As part of its election promises, the State Government committed to the implementation of legislated ratios. The ANMF (SA Branch) have welcomed this commitment and a critical aspect of the 2022 negotiations will be to ensure that we have a pathway forward.
Ratios will give members a transparent, shift by shift nursing and midwifery staffing system, with appropriate skill mix and staffing levels based on the number of patients in each ward or unit. We need this system to address the current staffing crisis and to enable nurses and midwives to deliver the high-quality care our community deserves.
Reward & Recognition
We must ensure that your wages reflect the significant contribution that each of you made to supporting the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also conscious of the huge rise in the cost of living which has outstripped wages growth in the public sector. The Government’s wages offer must reflect not only a real pay rise but recognise the value of your tireless work and continued commitment to the high standards of patient care, even in the most challenging of circumstances.
In addition, we will seek improvements to your conditions such as improved financial incentives for nurses and midwives working in rural and remote settings, paid COVID-19 leave that is accessible when you have contracted COVID-19, better staffing in public aged care facilities, a simpler and easier to read Enterprise Agreement and meaningful commitments to safety and fatigue management.
Once your claims are endorsed by the ANMF (SA Branch) Council, members will be invited to provide feedback. Please keep your eye out for future bargaining updates coming soon.
The State Government put health at the centre of its election campaign in early 2022. They gave detailed commitments on each of the key policy asks of the ANMF (SA Branch). They committed to legislate for ratios, they promised and budgeted for additional beds (300 of them) and capacity, and they vowed to end privatisation and assure public ownership. Last and not least, Labor committed to 350 extra paramedics and ambulance officers, 300 extra nurses and 100 extra doctors.
By standing together, we can ensure the State Government live up to its promises. We can achieve our bargaining goals of safer staffing and better wages and conditions. You all deserve a safer staffing system with nurse-to-patient ratios and recognition for your important contribution to health services in South Australia.
Encourage your colleagues to stand with you and join the ANMF (SA Branch) online
here.
If you require further information, please contact ANMF (SA Branch) Duty Officer via email at
[email protected] or via phone on 8334 1900.