Queensland nurses and midwives to strike for first time in over 20 years

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Tens of thousands of Queensland nurses and midwives have overwhelmingly voted to take strike action for the first in more than 20 years. The government says it's confident a deal will be reached, highlighting its commitment to frontline health workers with a stimulus announcement.

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00:00The Health Minister in Queensland's North West, armed with a $24 million incentive,

00:08the government will offer eligible doctors starting GP training a one-off $40,000 payment,

00:15benefiting almost 600 people.

00:18That sees more GPs trained in our communities and particularly we want to see people in rural and remote communities

00:24where we know that communities are struggling.

00:27It comes amid a spat with other frontline health workers.

00:31More than 96% of Queensland nurses and midwife union members have voted to take strike action

00:37after wage negotiations broke down.

00:40This is a huge result. It shows the level of anger amongst Queensland health nurses and midwives.

00:44A particular point of outrage was the government's unprecedented warning

00:48it would remove eight weeks of back pay if the union took industrial action.

00:53To have the threat to their back pay coupled with the threat to erode conditions and entitlements,

00:57coupled with not actually having a nation-leading pay and conditions commitment kept,

01:02it's red flag to a bull.

01:04We have made what we believe is an offer that meets the commitment in relation to nation-leading wages and conditions.

01:11The union hasn't gone on strike since 2002 under a Labor administration.

01:17While it feuds with the government over wages and conditions,

01:20both parties share concerns over the collapse of private hospital group Healthscope,

01:25which runs five private facilities in Queensland.

01:28I think we're all a little bit worried long term seeing the failure of a provider like this,

01:32which then inadvertently puts pressure on the public system.

01:36They have reassured us that their planned and scheduled surgeries will continue.

01:39We continue to monitor the situation very closely and understand what it is that they'll be doing.

01:44And we have some contingency plans in place in case there are problems in the future.

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