The union for Western Australia’s nurses and midwives has received a record $350,000 fine for a strike outside state parliament last year that attracted thousands of nurses at the height of a bitter dispute over pay and conditions.
Key points:
- WA’s Australian Nursing Federation could have faced a fine of $36 million
- But both sides agreed last month on a fine of a fraction of that amount
- A pay and conditions dispute is still dragging on, six months after the strike
The state’s Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) had ordered the union not to strike, but the Australian Nursing Federation decided to go ahead in defiance of its order.
Gathered on the steps of parliament in November last year, the crowd of thousands of nurses, including some who had left work, demanded a 5 per cent pay rise.
But their efforts were unsuccessful, with the government refusing to budge on its latest pay offer…
