BRISBANE — Queensland nurses are seeking an interim wage rise of 10%, backdated to June 1, while they wait for an Australian Industrial Relations Commission hearing on their claim for an 18% rise. The AIRC hearing is set for October 17.

Meanwhile, non-nursing health unions are balloting their 30,000 members on whether to accept the Queensland Labor government's pay offer of 3.8% or $25 over 13 months. Bans in public hospitals have been lifted and the 24-hour stoppage planned for August 28 has been cancelled.

Since December, the Queensland government has been confronted with a stream of industrial bans and stoppages. The government has only achieved a formal agreement with the QBuild construction workers. To reach that agreement, the government was forced to sweeten its offer with an extra $12 per week in superannuation payments, taking the net gain for the 1300-plus QBuild workers to just over 6%.

Meanwhile, the state's 36,000 public school teachers have presented a claim for a 24% pay rise over three years. Teachers also want reduced class sizes.

From Green Left Weekly, September 4, 2002.
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