Public sector wage rise cuts leave Wagga NSWNMA branch nurses Maddison Dowd and Rebecca Deveraux 'insulted'

NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Wagga branch secretary Rebecca Deveraux and president Maddison Dowd are two of approximately 800 nurses at the hospital who will forgo their usual 2.5 per cent wage increase this year.

Their union has slammed a decision by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, handed down on Thursday, to cut public sector wage growth to 0.3 per cent over the next 12 months.

"We're pretty disappointed and that seems to be the general consensus among the staff at Wagga Base Hospital," Ms Deveraux said.

"We would invite the Premier to come down and spend some time with us and work and see what we do and then I think she'd have a greater understanding of the role we have and how we give back to our community."

It comes after months of union and state opposition backlash against the Berejiklian government's May announcement that 170,000 public sector workers across the state would have their next wage increase frozen.

The initial stalemate saw the NSW government pursue the pay pause through the industrial umpire, which has now ruled largely in its favour.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet's office said the Industrial Relations Commission considered the 0.3 per cent increase "more appropriate in the context of a global economic crisis" which has left 280,000 people in NSW out of work.

"Our economy needs stimulus, we need to make every dollar count and the best modelling and advice is that we will get more bang for buck through direct investment, not higher pay packets for public servants," Mr Perrottet said in a statement.

The NSW government has promised a $3 billion infrastructure spend including $1.8 billion for regional areas.

Ms Dowd said the pay cut was insulting given the work public nurses have done during the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's not the respect that would have been nice to be shown - such a small increase in our wage," she said.

The Premier was contacted for a comment, but her office was unable to respond by deadline.