The combative Health Services Union boss Gerard Hayes has signalled that the industrial tensions which plagued the Minns government during its first year in office are set to resume in 2024, telling his members they should be prepared for a prolonged fight which may include strike action if they are to win the sort of salary increases other public sector workforces benefited from last year.

The Herald was last week granted access to portions of an internal meeting of HSU delegates as they prepare for the resumption of industrial bargaining later this year.

In a speech to members at NSW Trades Hall in Sussex Street, Hayes said that the successful campaign run by the state’s paramedics last year, which ended in an agreement which will see an average pay increase of 25.5 per cent for ambulance officers, had proven the HSU “had the power” in negotiations.

But, he said, the fight would “come at a cost”, suggesting that governments relied on the unwillingness of health workers to take significant industrial action during pay disputes and that paramedics “had to go to the wall to get what they wanted” by threatening wide-scale industrial action which could have crippled the state’s emergency triple-0 service.

“I don’t want to kill people. I don’t want to put people in harm’s way,” Hayes said. “But I don’t want the rest of you living on your knees because you’re not respected.”

Formal strike action by health workers is rare in NSW, but during interviews with HSU delegates at the meeting it was clear many see the upcoming bargaining period as pivotal to address what they see as a legacy of suppressed wages as a result of the former Coalition government’s controversial wages cap.

Many reported an exodus of staff to Queensland, which has begun offering financial incentives for workers from interstate. This has hampered morale and affected the health system’s overall capacity in NSW.

The government faces a series of looming negotiations with unions including the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association and the Public Service Association. That the HSU is also gearing up for another fight will not surprise, after Hayes’ combative approach became a major bugbear for the government in 2023.

It was Hayes, and not the NSW opposition, which caused Minns the most angst during Labor’s first year in power. When most senior union leaders were complimentary of the government during its first months, Hayes quickly became a vocal critic of the speed at which Labor moved to abolish the wages cap.