Nurses and midwives at the Royal Hobart Hospital have endorsed industrial action after the state government failed to put a pay offer on the table, with strike action not ruled out.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation ANMF had hoped to receive an offer from the government on Tuesday to present to members at a mass meeting at the hospital, but none was presented.
The union has put 73 claims to the government, including nurse-to-patient ratios, retention incentives and an additional week of annual leave.
ANMF Tasmanian Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd said the government told the union an offer was unlikely until more work was done on ratios for individual wards.
“The fact of the matter is that a commitment by the Tasmanian government to do this work already exists in the existing agreement and the government have had four years to do that work,” she said.
Shepherd said a second phase of the campaign “may very well include strike action by members, not just here at the Royal Hobart Hospital, but across the state.”
Mass meetings will be held in the north and north-west this week.
The nurses’ agreement was due to expire at the end of June.
Health Minister Bridget Archer said bargaining is continuing as the government works through a significant log of claims.
“We are committed to delivering a fair and affordable pay rise, as well as improved conditions and allowances for our hardworking nurses and midwives,” she said.
“We look forward to resolving these negotiations as quickly as possible.”
ANMF Tasmanian Branch President James Lloyd said nurses and midwives at the state’s two major hospitals had worked just under 11,000 double and overtime shifts to cover shortfalls.
“I really think the Tasmanian government is taking nurses and midwives for granted,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd said the government was relying on agency nurses to fill staffing gaps.
“Whilst we welcome these nurses coming to Tasmania to help fill our gaps, that is not a sustainable position,” he said.
Health department data shows spending on locum nurses reached $105 million in 2024-25, with the government saying agency staff costs fell by more than $36 million last financial year.
Cancer nurse Monica Werner said nursing students on placement were seeing the pressure firsthand.
“We’re going to burn them out,” she said.
“We’re going to scare them off and we’re going to lose our nurses.”
Labor MP Ella Haddad said Treasurer Eric Abetz’s planned $700 million cut to the health budget would affect nurses.
“We stand in solidarity with the ANMF trying to bring those needs and those concerns to the attention of government, who refuse to listen,” she said.
“They need to start listening to the reality of what nurses face every day on the ward.”
