Frontline public sector workers reject Premier’s offer, strike action to continue

The Public Service Association’s executive met this morning to review the Premier’s offer, which would lift the long-standing 2.5 percent pay cap to 3 percent, with a one-off $3000 bonus for NSW Health employees. The offer was rejected. PSA General Secretary Stewart Little said the offer, which would represent a significant pay cut to workers in real terms, was an insult and reinforced why wage decisions should be in the hands of an independent authority and not politicians. “This offer is pure politics – moving half a per cent and playing silly games with one-off bonuses for certain workers. It’s a shameless attempt at dividing workers against each other,” Mr Little said. “Inflation is running at over five percent. If frontline workers take three percent – the best they could hope for under Mr Perrottet’s offer – they would still be going backward by thousands of dollars a year. If the Premier is going to insist that workers deserve a pay cut he’s going to meet fierce resistance. “We need the Premier to go back to the drawing board and come back with a fair offer for the women and men who have been busting a gut throughout the pandemic to keep this state operational. No sneaky one-off bonuses for certain workers, just a fair pay rise that will keep pace with the cost of living.” Mr Little said the statewide 24-hour strike scheduled for Wednesday (8/6) would go ahead, unless the NSW Government revised its offer. “New South Wales is creating plenty of wealth but it’s not making its way down to real people who do real work for this community. That needs to change,” Mr Little said. “NSW Health workers deserve a pay rise but so do prison officers prison officers who have had to stare down riots in our tense, locked down jails. So do child protection officers who are dealing with rising rates of domestic violence. So do school support officers, so do SES and RFS workers, so do Service NSW staff. “We will keep fighting for a fair go for the people who keep our state working.”