In short:
About 50,000 nurses and midwives have walked off the job across NSW.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association have been in an ongoing pay dispute with the government, brought to a head this week after police were offered a historic 39 per cent increase.
What’s next?
The NSW government is considering arbitration in the Industrial Relations Commission.
Massive difference in education/qualification between average police and nurses. You need a high school certificate to become a cop and at minimum a diploma for enrolled nurse or an undergraduate degree to start on a career as an RN and with specialization the skies the limit. All that time and expense studying while a police officer can be earning good money.
Pay for nurses and to some extent teachers has a basis in historical sexism. Even as these occupations became increasingly professional and demanded much higher levels of education they retained the stigma of being womens jobs. Its a joke and completely without justification.