The cap suppressed the wages of essential workers across the NSW Government’s 430,000-strong workforce, contributing to the state’s recruitment and retention crisis.
The Industrial Relations (Public Sector Conditions of Employment) Regulation 2014 automatically repealed at midnight.
This means that the former government’s meddling in the work of the Industrial Relations Commission, which sets awards and settles disputes, is over.
The former government’s regulation was single handedly responsible for creating a cap on public sector wages in NSW.
This regulation was introduced and used exclusively by the former government.
The regulation subsequently eroded workforce morale and trust between government employers and workers such as teachers, health workers and child protection workers.
The Minns Labor Government was elected with a clear mandate to scrap the wages cap and sit down for genuine negotiation with our frontline workers.
This government is committed to improving working conditions, stopping our frontline workers quitting and attracting more people to these vital roles.
The government’s already made progress and did not choose to use this regulation, unlike the former government, delivering the biggest pay increase the NSW public sector has received in a decade.
There is still more work to do to get nurses into hospitals and to keep teachers in classrooms.
Quotes attributed to the Minister for Industrial Relations, Sophie Cotsis:
“This regulation created the broken industrial relations system in NSW that we are currently working hard to rebuild, it is a huge sigh of relief to see this regulation out of the system.
“This change will make way for more meaningful reform in the industrial relations space that is designed to be fairer and more equitable to the state and our workers.
“The wages cap has been officially abolished in NSW and this government will not bring it back”.
