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The Australian Nursing Federation believes its members will accept the McGowan government's latest pay and conditions offer, after coming to an in-principle agreement and calling off planned industrial action at public hospitals.
- ANF chief Mark Olson believes members will accept the revised deal
- The offer was contingent on the union calling off industrial action
- Strike action had been planned for Wednesday
Support for the deal by nurses and midwives would bring an end to the long-running industrial dispute and what has been a difficult political problem for Labor.
It also avoids the impact of rolling stoppages at public hospitals over the next two weeks, which would likely have led to some elective surgery being cancelled.
The in-principle agreement was reached ahead of a planned hearing before the Industrial Relations Commission today, where WA Health would have applied for orders to stop the industrial action.
The proposed deal includes increasing the pay allowance for level 1.8 nurses from $1000 to $1200 and also making level 2.4 nurses eligible for the top-up payment.
It would be also available for casual nurses.
There are also changes to the nurses' key demand for nurse-to-patient ratios, with an "enforceability mechanism" to check nurse ratios on each shift.
ANF chief executive Mark Olson told reporters the union will provide as much information about the proposal to its members over the next seven days before a final vote on the offer.
"We've secured improvements on the ratios clause, and we've got a better, higher allowance than they were offering yesterday and it applies to 25 per cent more of our members, I'm confident the members will accept it," Mr Olson said.
The proposed pay deal also includes a $3,000 dollar cost-of-living payment, paid after the agreement is lodged in the WA Industrial Relations Commission.
"Strategically, I think the ANF has made the right decision. That we take what's on the table," Mr Olson said.
The offer was contingent on the ANF agreeing to call off the industrial action.
In a statement, the state government said it was pleased with the in-principle agreement.
"On top of the commitment to nurse and midwife to patient ratios over the next two years, and the responsible and reasonable wages offer, the revised offer includes mentoring allowances for experienced nursing mentors to support the training of graduates – specifically level 1.8 and level 2.4 nurses," the statement said.
"These allowances are an important initiative that recognises the important mentoring role and greater responsibilities of experienced nurses and midwives when training newer staff.
"WA's pay offer as part of our state wages policy is one of the most generous in the nation, with Western Australia's wages, allowances and conditions for nurses very competitive with other States and Territories."
Earlier, Premier Mark McGowan said the nurse-to-patient ratios had been wanted by nurses for years, and his government was the first to make it happen in WA.