Thousands of striking public service workers have rallied outside NSW parliament and across the regions to vent their displeasure over the government's promised three per cent pay rise.
Public Service Association (PSA) members ranging from prison officers, park rangers, school support staff, ServiceNSW workers and civilian police employees are striking for 24-hours.
The strike comes after the PSA last week gave an ultimatum to the government to commit to a pay rise.
In Newcastle in the state's Hunter region, hundreds rallied and marched through the city.
PSA Newcastle regional organiser Ian Braithwaite said on Wednesday that while health workers deserved the bonus payment, it was a "slap in the face" that it was not extended to others on the front line - creating a feeling that those who did not get the bonus were "second class citizens".
He said the three per cent pay offer was "totally unacceptable".
"We're not actually asking for a pay rise, we're asking for the government to keep our pay in line with inflation," he said.
"People have had enough. They like to do their job ... they think they've done the right thing through the pandemic, through the bushfires, through the floods - every time something goes down, the public sector is there to keep everything running."
In Bathurst, in the state's Central West, PSA members gathered outside of Paul Toole's office before marching to Panthers Bathurst to watch a livestream of the protest outside Parliament House in Sydney.
Organiser Peter Clark said PSA members want this to change and they've been pushed to the extreme of striking to show the government how strongly they feel about the 2.5 per cent cap.
"The people you see here today have forgone a day's salary to show the government the depth of their feelings about the cost of living increases," Mr Clark said.
"We want the wage cap removed and taken out of the legislation and having that returned back to the Industrial Relations Commission as a fair and independent arbiter.
"There hasn't been a strike for 11 years so this has been pushed pretty hard to get to the stage where we feel the need to make the massage clear to the government."
Union members marched up Macquarie St in Sydney on Wednesday morning, but the crowd did not match the size of recent strikes by teachers and nurses.
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Other demonstrations are being held across the state in Dubbo, Grafton, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.
"We're hoping for a very good turnout," PSA general secretary Stewart Little said, adding he would love to see 30,000 members hit the streets in protest.
Premier Dominic Perrottet on Monday announced the 2.5 per cent annual cap on public sector wage rises would be increased to three per cent next financial year, with an additional 3.5 per cent the following year, depending on productivity gains.
PSA senior vice president Juliette Sizer told members a fair pay rise "starts at 5.2 per cent", 0.1 per cent above inflation.
The government also announced frontline health staff would receive a $3000 bonus in recognition of their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposal has been widely supported, but there has been criticism that teachers, police, departmental health staff and other public service workers would get nothing.
Mr Little said no one is more deserving of the bonus than health workers but it should include PSA members who work in the ministry of health.
"The epidemiologists, the contact tracers ... stopping the pandemic overwhelming our community," he said.
Teachers, prison officers and emergency service workers should also get the payment, he added.
Unions have called for the wages cap to be raised further to at least reflect the rate of inflation, while some want it abolished altogether.
Labor has also been pushing for changes to the bargaining process between unions and the government.
Opposition Leader Chris Minns has described it as "fundamentally broken".
Mr Little said the independence of the Industrial Relations Commission needed to be reinstated.
"For 100 years we had an Industrial Relations Commission, this government cut its feet off," he said.
Mr Perrottet said the strike was all about politics.
"Our public servants have just received the biggest public sector pay increase anywhere in the nation," the premier said.
The wage rise was fair and responsible within the confines of the June 21 budget, he said.
"It's not just the public servants that are going through a challenging time, it's every person across NSW after coming through the pandemic," Mr Perrottet said.
Mr Little said a pay rise for public servants would benefit the broader economy.
"He's in charge of the largest workforce in the country ... no one more than Mr Perrottet can do something about addressing wages," he said.
"We had a decade of wage restraint."
- with Australian Associated Press
