23/10/18 Image of the ANMF participation in the 'Change the Rules' rally in Melbourne. Photograph by Chris Hopkins
Wages and conditions for your workplace are set out in your enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA), which ANMF negotiates on your behalf.
Whether you undertake your graduate or transition-to-practice program in the public or private sector, it is the public sector EBA campaigns that set the wages benchmark for private hospitals. The result is similar wages across public and most private hospitals.
In 2000, full-time graduate nurses and midwives in the public sector earned $618.20 per week, and enrolled nurses earned $577.40 – before penalty rates and allowances.
In April 2019, public sector nurses and midwives achieved net pay parity with their NSW colleagues though an historic pay rise in the 2016 public sector EBA. Many enrolled nurse classifications earn more than their NSW colleagues.
The most recent public sector pay rise of 3 per cent was paid from December 2022. Full-time graduate nurses and midwives now earn a base rate of $1,298.60 per week and new enrolled nurses earn $1,145.90 – before penalty rates and allowances.
Negotiations for the next public sector EBA, the document that sets out wages and conditions, will start in late 2023.
The public sector, the mental health public sector, and each private sector employer have a different EBA. ANMF negotiate these EBAs about every four years. It is usually critical to the success of these negotiations that ANMF members campaign to improve the outcome by participating in meetings, rallies, and on occasion industrial action.
