Nurses set to vote on whether to strike
Nurses have voted against a pay offer from district health boards, and ‘‘a week of action’’ is on the way.
But whether or not there will be a strike is still undecided. New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) industrial services manager Cee Payne made the announcement in Wellington on Monday afternoon.
On it’s website, the NZNO said nurses should ‘‘get ready for a week of national action starting 9 April’’. A key next step would be to ballot members on industrial action, the statement said.
District Health Boards (DHBs) had offered 27,000 of its members, which also include midwives and healthcare workers, a 2 per cent annual increase in salary, a $1050 lump sum payment, and a commitment to a pay equity settlement no later than July 1, 2019.
NZNO took the offer to its members last week.
Payne said nurses had suffered from ‘‘severe underfunding of the health system’’, and struggled under an increase in health care needs, an aging population and work force, and rising costs in the delivery of health care.
The organisation wants the DHB to agree to a collective agreement that supported its nurses and its professional standard of care, she said.
‘‘We will ensure that we meet our good faith obligation and collective bargaining. The issues that we’re facing today, for our members, have arisen from a decade of severe underfunding of the health system.’’
There were plans for further action on April 9. ‘‘These rallies will be an opportunity for nurses to demonstrate their dissatisfaction into nurses’ pay.’’
‘‘Increased work loads, increased patient acuity (meaning our patients are sicker when they arrive at the hospital), stress, fatigue and lack of job satisfaction’’ had increased over the last decade. Payne said that had contributed to high staff turn-over and low morale.
‘‘Other issues are impacting on members in the workplace. These include: inadequate levels of staffing, unhealthy shift rostering and under-valuation of nurses’ work.’’