Nurses walking off job as NSW strike crisis continues

Thousands of nurses and midwives across New South Wales are today taking their turn to walk off the job for 24 hours, just a day after the Sydney public transport network effectively shut down.

Nurses and midwives are calling for better staff-to-patient ratios and pay increases after shouldering a massive workload during the pandemic.

Dozens of community rallies will take place outside hospitals all over the state from 7am.

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The union has said some surgeries may be delayed, but promised life-preserving measures will be maintained.

Nurses have held several strikes in recent months around the same issue, saying the system is at breaking point with not enough health workers to safely manage patients.

It comes a day after the long-simmering conflict between the Rail Tram and Bus Union and the NSW government came to a sudden boil.

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The Sydney rail network shut down about 75 per cent of its services yesterday, while in a separate and unrelated strike, bus drivers also walked off the job.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has threatened to drag the RBTU to court and tear up a multi-billion dollar safety offer if workers don't agree to it.

The rail union have said they will hold off on major industrial action for the next fortnight.

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