40 Years Since Nurses' Strike
From Women on the Line by Cleis Hart, Kannagi Bhatt, Phuong Tran, Xen Nhà & Scheherazade Bloul.
May 3, 2026
About this episode
This episode revisits the historic 50-day Victorian nurses’ and midwives’ strike in 1986, featuring archival audio and interviews.
For this week’s episode of Women on the Line we go back into the archives, and revisit the historic 50-day Victorian nurses’ and midwives’ strike in 1986. As 3CR Community radio celebrates its 50th anniversary and this program, Women on the Line, celebrates its 40th anniversary, we are dedicating this special May Day edition of the show to the nurses’ strike and the rolling coverage that took place on 3CR at the time. On today’s program you will hear segments from three episodes of Women on the Line that aired in November and December 1986, presented and produced by Deb Welch, former 3CR presenter and creator of Women on the Line. Across the three episodes, Deb speaks to nurses and members of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation (now known as the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation), and shares speeches, chants and songs from the various rallies and walkouts that took place across the state of Victoria.--Thank you to 3CR Community Radio for access to this archived audio, to the ANMF digital exhibition of the strike, and to the following publication, Radical Radio Book - Celebrating 40 years of 3CR.
People in this episode
Guest: Deb Welch
Topics covered
- nurses strike
- women's rights
- labor history
- community radio
- healthcare
- activism
Keywords
- nurses strike
- 1986
- 3CR
- Deb Welch
- activism
- healthcare
- women's rights
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: 3CR Community Radio, Royal Australian Nursing Federation, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation
Books & works: Radical Radio Book - Celebrating 40 years of 3CR
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