The Victorian government has announced a massive pay increase for Victorian nurses and midwives: 28.4 per cent.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation members – numbering over 320,000 – today voted in favour of the heads-of-agreement. The four-year deal will see nurses and midwives delivered a wage increase of 28.4 per cent – helping to retain and recruit more nurses so more Victorians can get the best care.
The agreement also improves gender wage equity in Victoria. The nursing and midwifery workforce is overwhelmingly female, and the Fair Work Commission (FWC) found that their profession has been historically undervalued based on unfair assumptions about gender.
The decision comes after Victoria made it free to study to become a nurse or midwife, but is likely to have a greater effect on correcting chronic shortfalls in healthcare workers across the state.
28% pay rise for Victorian nurses and midwives
- A new four-year deal will see nurses and midwives delivered a wage increase of 28.4 per cent
- Fair Work Commission (FWC) found that their professions have been historically undervalued
- The decision comes after Victoria made it free to study to become a nurse or midwife
- The average registered nurse salary currently ranges between $65,000 and $85,000
- The statistics are similar for midwives, although with an often higher upper-range
- The 28% pay rise would see nurses earning $75,000 per year increase to $96,000
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The significant new deal provides certainty about wages affected by the Fair Work Commission’s decision in the Aged Care Work Value Case. In addition to the wage increase, the agreement backs our existing workforce and encourages a new generation of nurses and midwives by delivering:
- Preserved longstanding career structures and opportunities for progression
- Incentivised permanent work through a new change of ward allowance which will compensate nurses and midwives when they are moved from their base ward – so employers stop using redeployment and casual workers as a business-as-usual rostering practice
- Improved night shift penalties for permanent nurses and midwives
- A right-to-disconnect clause
- Improved access to flexible working arrangements, recognising that nurses are available 24/7
- Reducing the qualifying period for parental leave from six months to zero, and
- Recognition of service for interstate public sector nurses and midwives who have relocated to Victoria
- The deal builds on previous enterprise agreements to provide more certainty for Victoria’s nurses and midwives.
“We’re proud to give nurses and midwives better pay and improved conditions – it’s absolutely what they deserve,” Premier Jacinta Allan said. “It’s a win for all Victorians, because better paid nurses and midwives means a better health system.”
“This is a once-in-a-generation pay increase for our dedicated nurses and midwives – helping us strengthen and grow our existing and future workforce,” Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas added. “We’ll always back our nurses and midwives and the extraordinary work they do to keep each and every one of us healthy and safe.”
Find more information here.
