Wollongong nurse Bianca Vergouw tries not to think about her life after work as she finds the prospect of retirement "too depressing".
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"I have this terrible vision that I'll need to work until I'm 90 years old," Ms Vergouw, the Wollongong Hospital branch president of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA), said.
"I wonder when will I actually get to enjoy retirement? To be honest, it's too depressing to think about - it feels like it's out of my hands, and under the current policy I haven't got the power to change the direction of my superannuation."
A new research report being released on Wednesday by the NSWNMA shows most nurses will struggle to meet the threshold for a comfortable retirement, due to a reduction in superannuation payments under the Coalition's public sector wage cap policy introduced in 2012.
The paper, by economist and director of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute Dr Jim Stanford, says nurses will have missed out on $12,500 in super payments between 2012 and 2024.
It also found nurses are already out of pocket about $80,000 each due to the lack of wages growth under the government's wage cap policy over the past decade, and will have lost $120,000 in wages by next financial year.
Dr Stanford said he believed the wages policy, which limits the pay rises public sector workers can get to a certain cap each year was "harsh" and meant nurses became worse off over time.
"The consequences are severe for public sector nurses and midwives, and get worse over time because the sustained pay caps have a cumulating effect," he said.
"Not only are wage gains in any particular year lower than they would be under normal circumstances, but the base level of pay falls further and further behind where they would be otherwise."
Ms Vergouw said the report was confronting reading, but was not surprised by the bleak picture it painted for nurses future earnings.
"No one goes into nursing or midwifery to get rich, but it makes me feel really sad to have that figure laid out," she said. "It's a massive insult to us, because the government keeps telling us we're so important - and at some places they've given us pizza as a thank you - but that's not enough.
"Our pay is not even keeping up with inflation, and we're missing out on the extra contribution to our super - it's terrible."
Nurses in public hospitals across NSW have been on strike several times this year to highlight their working conditions and call on the government to guarantee shift by shift staff to patient ratios on all ward. They are also asking for a pay rise of 7%, which is well above the 3-3.5% cap the government has set for the next two years.
Union boss Shaye Candish said she believed the government's wages policy was irresponsible, especially as it struggles to attract and retain nurses across the health system.
"This is not a responsible policy that instils confidence in building the future nursing and midwifery workforce we desperately need for our state," she said.
"Nurses and midwives across NSW will be unable to retire in dignity, the longer these cruel wage caps remain in place.
"This says a lot about further gendered inequality that we already know exists and highlights how discriminatory wage caps are upon the female-dominated nursing and midwifery workforce.
"According to the report, an experienced female nurse or midwife who is single and renting will fall more than 50 per cent below the comfortable retirement threshold."
Previously, when nurses have raised their concerns with the wages policy, NSW Health has made it clear that it is "deeply thankful for the outstanding commitment and tireless efforts of our healthcare workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic".
In September, when the nurses and midwives went on strike for 24 hours, a spokesperson said the NSW Government and NSW Health had engaged in extensive and ongoing discussions with the NSWNMA.
"On 17 August 2022, the IRC made a new award covering Nurses and Midwives at NSW Health," the spokesperson said.
"The award facilitated a 3 per cent increase to wages and conditions, comprising of a 2.53 per cent wage increase and a 0.5 per cent superannuation increase."
"These increases are in addition to the one-off $3,000 thank you payment announced in June 2022 in recognition of the work of health workers during the pandemic."
The spokesperson also reiterated that the government was investing a record $33 billion in health as part of the 2022-23 NSW Budget, and had announced the largest workforce boost in the nation's history with a $4.5 billion investment over four years to recruit 10,148 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to hospitals and health services across NSW.
When the Coalition annoucned that it would lift the wages cap to 3 per cent, Treasurer Matt Kean said the increase was fair and sustainable in the current economic climate.
"NSW is currently enjoying the lowest unemployment on record and it is important to maintain competitive wages to attract and retain the best talent," he said.
"In the context of a strong and growing economy this two-year increase to wages is an affordable and sensible policy."
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
