Across the state, we saw PSA members in the often-thankless world of Child Protection announce they had had enough.

Members walked off the job, holding placards to let the community know Child Protection was in crisis.

Such is their professional devotion to the children they care for, that before the protests, arrangements were made to ensure any serious cases would be taken care of.

Many of the issues raised by our members in Community Services would be familiar to other PSA CPSU NSW members, including poor wages, massive workloads and pay gradings that don’t match responsibilities.

However, our members are not just walking out to improve their own wages and conditions. They are doing it for the vulnerable children in their care.

Our members in Community Services play a vital role in these people’s lives. Their intervention can literally be a matter of life and death.

They know that a system that has staff burning out and leaving, on average, after just 14 months in the job, is not an efficient way to look after children in need.

They know that a system that is too reliant on non-government providers is not enough to protect these children, particularly when these providers have the ability to just walk away if a case is too difficult.

Our members in Community Services are not just walking off for themselves and their colleagues: they are walking off to make sure our state can perform one of the core functions of government, the protection of children.

Child Protection is in crisis. It takes action from a strong union and its brave members to make sure this situation can be fixed.