NSW nurses have secured a major pay rise following an industrial ruling in April 2026. The NSW Industrial Relations Commission granted a package including a 16% total increase for registered nurses and midwives over three years, with a 10% one-off reset in year one, backdated to July 1, 2025, plus 3% in each of the following two years. Enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing also received substantial increases under the same agreement, with the largest first-year lift going to assistants in nursing. These outcomes followed a two-year dispute and are part of a broader effort to address perceived undervaluation of nursing work in NSW.[2][3][4][9]
What this means for you in Tirana, Albania, or elsewhere:
- If you’re tracking NSW nursing wages for comparison, expect the (a) 16% total rise for RNs/midwives, (b) 18% for enrolled nurses, and (c) up to 28% for assistants in nursing as a three-year package, with the first-year adjustments retroactive to July 2025.[3][2]
- The deal includes a one-off reset of 10% in year one, which is backdated, and ongoing 3% increases in years two and three, following a period of wage disputes.[4][2]
- Coverage includes roughly 50,000–69,000 public-sector nurses and midwives, depending on the source and date, reflecting the scale of NSW’s public health workforce affected by the ruling.[5][9][4]
If you’d like, I can pull the latest local coverage from NSW outlets or summarize stakeholder reactions (government, unions, and health services) in a concise bullet list. I can also provide a quick comparison table showing the exact percentage increases by role and year. Would you like me to do that?[2][3][4]