Nurses vote to reject pay offer
The nurses union has ‘‘strongly rejected’’ a pay and conditions offer and is seeking mediation but district health boards say they have no more money.
The decision was announced yesterday afternoon in Wellington by New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) industrial services manager Cee Payne.
DHBs spokeswoman Helen Mason said there would be further mediation but made it clear that no more money would be put on the table. ‘‘The DHBs are going to be working very hard to do everything we can to reach settlement. Whilst we are hoping for the best, we need to plan for the worst,’’ she said.
‘‘I think a lot of our conversations are going to be about ensuring nurses are feeling really confident that DHBs are putting something additional on the table that wasn’t there before. That’s about the safe staffing programme, it’s also about pay equity.’’
Mason said the DHBs’ primary concern was to ensure ‘‘safe services’’ if it came down to industrial action for the first time in 30 years.
The concerns were being taken seriously and steps were being made to address them, she said, before saying the current offer was the only one on the table. ‘‘It’s a very good offer, it’s actually an excellent offer. We’ve essentially doubled the offer,’’ she said. Payne said the NZNO was surveying members, alongside the setting up of urgent mediation or facilitation, to seek clarity about the specific issues they wanted addressed in order to settle with the DHBs.
‘‘The immediate staffing crisis as a result of the past decade of underfunding of DHBs has taken a heavy toll on nurses and their ability to provide safe patient care,’’ she said.
‘‘Nurses and midwives do not trust that their work environment or patient care will improve in the short term.’’
Payne said there was an ‘‘exceptionally high turnout’’ but wouldn’t give a breakdown of the votes. ‘‘Members are very keen to be engaged in this dispute.’’
The union was hoping to start mediation by the end of this week, at the earliest.
NZNO chief executive Memo Musa said strike action was the last resort but could still happen.
The 29,500 NZNO members had earlier voted to strike for two days in July – dependent on results for the new collective agreement offer.
‘‘Patient safety is paramount. ‘‘We have had several meetings with DHB representatives to begin preparation to ensure patient safety.’’
The strikes were scheduled for July 5 and 12, to run for 24 hours from 7am.