Nurses and midwives across NSW have walked off the job, defying the state's industrial umpire while declaring they will "stand up and fight back" in their intensifying pay dispute.
Thousands hit the streets on Tuesday for a 12-hour protest, the first major stop-work action from the cohort since Labor returned to power in NSW.
Their demands for a 15 per cent one-off wage increase have been rebuffed as unaffordable by a state government baulking at the multi-billion-dollar cost.
Rallies took place at more than a dozen locations across the state, including a major protest outside the premier's Sydney electorate office, where a boisterous crowd accused Chris Minns of turning his back on emergency workers.
A skeleton staff was maintained at hospitals but longer waits in emergency departments were expected.
Health Minister Ryan Park, who told a budget estimates hearing he would apologise to any patient who missed treatment due to the strike, said hundreds of elective surgeries were cancelled.
While the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association is yet to announce further strikes, neither it nor the government have ceded any room on pay negotiations, setting the scene for further industrial unrest.
Union president O'Bray Smith said members cared about patients "unlike this government" and warned they wouldn't back down from their demands.
"It's time to pay us what we're worth and we're ready to stand up and fight for it - we're not going away," she said.
Speakers accused government figures of hollow praise when thanking them for their service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting real gratitude would be shown through a pay rise and improved conditions.
Protesters held signs including "f*** the praise, where's the raise?" and "you don't pay, we don't stay", while another accused Treasurer Daniel Mookhey of "counting his cash while we count the dead".
Labor has offered a 10.5 per cent wage increase to all public-sector workers over three years, including a mandatory rise in superannuation payments.
Mental health nurse Skye Romer, who attended the protest after a 10-hour night shift, summed up the frustration of many attendees.
"I am tired, I'm burning out, I'm over it and it's time midwives and nurses in NSW are paid what we're worth," she said.
The strike went ahead despite the NSW Industrial Relations Commission ordering the union to call off the action.
Mr Minns said the requested pay increase was unaffordable and the government's existing offer was fair.
"I have to tell taxpayers across the state, if we implemented a 15 per cent, one-year increase in salaries, it would cost $6.5 billion, that's more than we spend on the entire police force in one year," he said.
But the union is unhappy that provisions for extra health funding which helped power Labor to its 2023 election win could not be extended to better wages.
Advocates have also pointed to the higher pay on offer interstate as driving an exodus of frontline workers.
Labor was "refusing to fix the gender pay gap" and deliver the state's largest female-dominated workforce fair and reasonable pay, union general secretary Shaye Candish said.
Three-in-four NSW public health workers are women, with median salaries 3.2 per cent below their male counterparts.
The union said the pay rise could be covered through capturing $3 billion in lost commonwealth health funding.
The strikes come as Labor juggles multiple battles with unions over pay, having convinced many in 2023 to take a snap, one-year deal for a four per cent wage rise.
Mr Minns said giving the nurses a 15 per cent bump would deliver a queue of other workers demanding an identical raise, including police and corrections officers as well as paramedics.
But NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said nurses were entitled to feel betrayed.
"(Mr Minns) promised large pay increases before the election, he told the taxpayers it wouldn't cost a cent and now the chickens are coming home to roost," he said.
