00:00There was a loud crowd here outside Wollongong Hospital this morning as dozens of local staff
00:07stopped work to take part in statewide industrial action. Some doctors still had their hospital
00:13scrubs on and they were holding homemade signs demanding the New South Wales government come
00:18to the negotiating table. The union wants a 30% pay rise for one year and then 3% for the years
00:24following to bring rates in line with other Australian states. Today is the third and final
00:29day of this planned action by the union with Wollongong the largest regional hospital to take
00:34part. There were doctors from a range of specialisations and experience here including
00:39one junior doctor who has only been on the job for three months and she told me she's already
00:44considering moving to Queensland. Talking to my colleagues who I went to medical school with who
00:49have gone to WA, Brisbane, to Victoria, they've all had very different experiences getting
00:57remunerated for the work that they're doing and they're under much better safer working hours and
01:01safer conditions and I'm sure that their patients are benefiting. Another local doctor I spoke to
01:06told me it is normal for her and her colleagues in a specialist unit of Wollongong Hospital to work
01:11up to 20 hours a week in unpaid overtime. She said as the population of Wollongong has grown in recent
01:18years there's been little remuneration to deal with that extra workload. There is I would say greater
01:24demand on doctors, greater expectation from patients and really what we are trying to provide
01:29is quality care. Sometimes I don't think we hit that mark because we are not staffed adequately.
01:35Multiple other unions and Greens party members joined striking doctors today including the New South
01:40Wales Maritime Union. Some say that they hope today's action will help their nursing counterparts
01:46who have been pleading with the state government for a pay rise for several months.
01:49This is not news to the government and they really need to make this a priority. The government is
01:55saying they can't afford to pay the doctors what they would earn in other states. They frankly can't
01:59afford not to. New South Wales Health Minister and member for the Wollongong electorate of Keira,
02:05Ryan Park, says he's unable to meet the union's demands due to budget constraints. The group that
02:11was here earlier this morning have moved on to Mr Park's local office in Coromool nearby and today's
02:17industrial action is set to wrap up statewide at 10 o'clock tonight.
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