Casual workers, those who worked during the pandemic but have since left the health system and health workers in the private sector have raised questions over the state government's plan to pay a $3000 appreciation bonus to NSW Health employees.
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NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet revealed on Monday that health workers would receive $3,000 payments "for the sacrifices and efforts they have made over the last two years", as well as for an acknowledgement of a difficult flu season to come.
The treasurer, Matt Kean, explained healthcare employees had been specifically chosen for the one-off payments over other public sector workers to recognise the role they played "during the pandemic to keep us safe".
He said people employed by NSW Health "in all our area health districts" on July 1 would be eligible for the money, and it had also been reported the money would be for permanent workers only.
This limited eligibility criteria has left many workers questioning why they will miss out on the payments even though they made sacrifices during the pandemic too.
A NSW Illawarra region private hospital theatre nurse, who was deployed to work at the Qudos Bank Arena vaccination hub in Sydney and Dubbo in the state's Central West during the height of the pandemic when private hospital theatres shut down, has slammed the government for only paying the bonus to NSW Health employees.
"I was in the theatre yesterday when we heard about this, and to hear we will miss out, well, we feel like crap," he said. "My colleagues I was with said 'that's just bulls--t'.
"We were out there on the frontline helping them as if we were NSW Health employees, so it seems like discrimination to me if you're giving it to one lot of health workers and not others."
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Likewise, NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Wollongong branch officials said they wanted more clarity about exactly who would get the money, as they were concerned many temporary workers might miss out.
"I'm not a permanent staff member myself, and the NSW Health system relies on temporary contracts and casual staff members," delegate Genevieve Stone said.
"And what about permanent staff who have already left? Or the people working full time but as casuals."
Another hospital worker said there were "a huge amount of people in long term temporary contracts" - including most of her department's doctors - who did not know if they were eligible.
NSW South Coast aged care worker Jeanette Hemsworth, of Kiama, also was concerned she and her colleagues would also miss out.
"How about Aged Care Workers? Did we not work just as hard during Covid in NSW? And we haven't even gone on strike because we don't have any backup?," she wrote on the Illawarra Mercury's Facebook.