Geraldton nurses join state-wide protests demanding fair pay and conditions

The life-saving work of nursing is becoming too dangerous and the risk of burnout too great for what is offered in return, according to more than 100 frustrated and fatigued local nurses who participated in Friday’s state-wide strike. As the pay dispute between the Australian Nursing Federation and State Government escalates, protesting nurses, former staff and members of the public rallied outside Geraldton Health Campus in a show of defiance against the government, after the nurses were told to cancel their strike by the WA Industrial Relations Commission. The nurses made their voices heard with loud whistles and chants while cars passing by honked in support. The loudest cheers came as paramedics activated their ambulance sirens in support for the nurses. The nurses’ demands are a five per cent increase in pay and a 1:4 nurse-to-patient ratio, claiming they are underpaid and overworked. “So many people are taking more leave than ever because of the stress,” nurse Sacha, who chose not to give her last name, said. “Everyone’s feeling the financial pressure, the economy has changed and we are feeling it, our wages have not gone up in a significant amount of time and we are feeling it.” Nurse Hannah Goddard, who is also a disability carer, said her work left her physically and mentally fatigued. “I’m tired all the time, I’m constantly exhausted,” she said. “Frankly the offer they gave us is bulls..., it is an insult, it is offensive to nurses with what we have put up with in the last few years,” Ms Goddard said of the Government’s offer of a three per cent increase. After the pandemic, many nurses felt they were betrayed by the Government which gave them praise but refused to address their concerns. Nurse Alysse Kelly said she recently became a registered nurse because of her passion for helping people, but she felt that nurses were being taken advantage for their goodwill. “We’re tired, we’re fed up, we’re exhausted, we went through being heroes to zero, we want to be heard,” she said. Ms Kelly said pay for nurses simply was not fair given how important their work was, and the cost-of-living crisis hurting many of them. “I could be a ward clerk, a receptionist, and I could get paid more than I do, and I hold people’s hands when they are dying, I save people’s lives,” she said. “I’ve just spent thousand and thousands of dollars in HECS debt to get where I am, and I wonder why I do it sometimes. “We do it because we love what we do but it shouldn’t be a struggle, especially because we are needed, we are important, without us there is no healthcare.” Not only is better pay and conditions fair, the nurses say, it will help keep staff in Geraldton and other hospitals. “They (nurses) are leaving because every day is a constant struggle for us, every day we put our registrations on the line, and we are just tired, we’re exhausted, we’ve just come out of the pandemic and we’re even more exhausted,” Ms Kelly said. “When I graduated nursing it was very difficult to get a permanent position, but now they are very accessible,” one nurse who wished not to be named said. “We have a high turnover rate of agency nurses ... a lot of them say the team is great but the pay is the problem.” By retaining hospital staff and ensuring workload is manageable, the nurses argue they are not just fighting for their own fair treatment, they are fighting for the safety of patients. “Everyone can handle a patient load of 5 or 6, but it’s about the safety, and it’s getting too dangerous,” nurse Bronte Foley said. “If we can do our job better, then we can take care of our patients better,” another nurse, who wished not be named, said. Nurses said hospital management was understanding and supportive, supplying food and water to protesters. More than 250 elective surgeries were postponed on Friday across WA according to WA Health, but it is unclear how many were in Geraldton.