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The NSW Government has agreed to a pay deal for more than 50,000 workers with the Health Services Union (HSU).
The agreement covers professions like allied health roles, hospital cleaners, scientists, security officers and patient transport officers.
The new deal means a one-year pay increase of 3.5 per cent (plus 0.5 per cent in superannuation) and 100 per cent salary packaging.
The government says the share of salary packaging benefits for eligible workers increases from 70 per cent to 100 per cent with effect from July 1, 2024.
A $1000 one-off cost-of-living payment will apply if the 12-month annual average Sydney CPI rate exceeds 4.0 per cent in the year to the 2025 March quarter.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park says the deal covers public health workers including Aboriginal Health Workers, dental officers, psychologists, security officers, patient support assistants, hospital cleaners, cooks, technicians, interpreters and administration staff.
“The government and HSU agreed to work together to identify system changes, productivity outcomes, benefits from award reform and savings,” he says.
“This has been a collaborative approach, which builds on the four-year agreement reached with paramedics late last year.”
Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis says the process of rebuilding the state’s essential services and industrial relations system began with scrapping a wages cap.
Union secretary Gerard Hayes says the deal is “a generational advance for 50,000 health workers who have earned every cent of this pay rise”.
“The reform to salary packaging will be life-changing for hard working people on modest incomes,” he says.
“After years of neglect in a struggling workforce, we demanded the government do better … we pay tribute to the government for honouring its commitment.”
The agreement also includes award reform with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a three-year wage agreement to take effect after the one-year award ends.
