Opal HealthCare's NSW nurses and care staff have voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of a new Enterprise Agreement (EA) that will deliver an additional increase of 10.7% over three years, backdated to 1 July 2023.

Nearly three quarters of NSW staff (71%) supported the deal, which also included an additional three days of sick leave for infectious diseases, access to a sick leave pool for serious illness or injury, an additional two weeks' parental leave, and domestic violence leave of up to 20 days.

A spokesperson for Opal HealthCare told The Weekly SOURCE, "The new EA delivers an additional 10.07% wage increase compounded over the three years from July 2023-2025, in addition to the 15% award increase that our nurses and carers received last year.

The Health Services Union endorsed the deal, saying ‘the new wage offer (including back pay to 1 July 2023) and the significantly improved conditions… was acceptable to members’.”

It is a defeat for the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMF), who voted in favour of taking industrial action at the providers' NSW homes, saying the offer was "unacceptable" and did not keep pace with rising inflation and cost of living pressures. The NSWNMF demanded an 18% pay increase over three years, as well as 20 days sick leave, and wanted Opal HealthCare to meet the mandated 200 care minute requirement in all its homes. The NSWNMF's industrial action will not now proceed.

The Opal HealthCare EA now needs to be ratified by the Fair Work Commission. Opal HealthCare has 133 aged care homes, including 47 in NSW.

The FWC's Stage 3 pay rise for aged care workers will be phased in from 1 January 2025 and 1 October 2025.