GREENS MPS STAND UNWAVERING IN SUPPORT FOR ALL INDUSTRIAL ACTION

Abigail, along with every one of her NSW Greens colleagues, wrote an open letter to all teachers, nurses and midwives, transport workers and unions taking industrial action this week in support and solidarity.

An open letter to the teachers, nurses and midwives, transport workers, and unions taking industrial action this week:

28 June 2022

As the Greens MPs in NSW Parliament, we are writing to express our unwavering support and solidarity for the industrial
actions you are taking this week.

While we know that thanks is not enough, we do want to say thank you for your tireless work. But that’s not all we want
to do. We also want to commit to your demands for an increase in pay, better conditions and more resources.

We firmly believe that teachers, nurses and midwives, transport workers, and all public sector workers deserve fair wages
and vastly improved conditions. That means addressing staffing shortages, fixing safety concerns and adequately
resourcing those working in our schools, hospitals, public services and on our public transport systems.

The 3% wage rise announced by the NSW Coalition government recently does not come close to covering the rises in the
cost of living and inflation, nor will it fix the decades of underfunding of our schools and hospitals, or the safety issues in
our transport network.

The Greens stand firm in our support of your demands. We reject the unfair wage freeze. We support mandated staff to
patient ratios in hospitals. We recognise the need to fix chronic staff shortages in schools, for urgent intervention to
alleviate unreasonable workloads, and for genuine investment to address long-standing safety issues.

We know that improved conditions and wages aren’t won easily. And we respect that you taking this action is the most
powerful way we can stand together to collectively advance our rights. The Greens will always support your right to strike,
and we stand in fierce opposition to the NSW Liberal/National Government’s recent announcement to impose heavy fines
on unions for taking strike action.

Thank you for taking action. We will continue to support you in Parliament, on the streets, and in your workplaces.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny Leong, Greens NSW Industrial Relations Spokesperson

Sue Higginson, Greens NSW Employment Spokesperson

Abigail Boyd, Greens NSW Transport Spokesperson

Cate Faehrmann, Greens NSW Health Spokesperson

Jamie Parker, Greens NSW Democracy Spokesperson

Tamara Smith, Greens NSW Education Spokesperson

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

The NSW Government owns and controls, on behalf of the people of this state, the rights to the minerals and materials that naturally occur in NSW land.

Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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GREENS MPS STAND UNWAVERING IN SUPPORT FOR ALL INDUSTRIAL ACTION

An open letter to the teachers, nurses and midwives, transport workers, and unions taking industrial action this week:

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

Will you sign?

Join the Campaign

Join 49,937 other supporters in taking action