On collective defiance and the will to fight: ANF activist Tyler Ray discusses the nurses' dispute

Perth Indymedia

On Friday 25th November, after many twists and turns in a fiercely fought campaign for better wages and conditions, Western Australian nurses went out on strike. It was the first strike by Western Australian nurses since 1998, one held, remarkably, in defiance of an Industrial Relations Commission order, the same industrial umpire, so-called, which later threatened to suspend the Australian Nursing Federation's registration as a union. To discuss these dramatic developments, and what might happen next, Alex Whisson was joined by Tyler Ray, a rank-and-file ANF activist and enrolled nurse at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.