Will DHBs dig deeper to keep nurses happy?
It will be a case of who blinks first, as the mexican standoff between nurses and the District Health Boards (DHBs) over pay and conditions resumes.
New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) members want more financial investment, but their DHB employers and the government have publicly claimed no more money was available to bolster its current offer.
Nevertheless, both parties are back at taking their seats around the negotiating table today – less than a week after nurses, healthcare assistants and midwives across the country walked off the wards for the first time in three decades.
DHBs were reportedly putting their fifth collective agreement proposal before NZNO negotiators in a bid to prevent NZNO industrial services manager Cee Payne has indicated more financial investment would be needed if the employment agreement was to gain its members’ approval.
In a post on its Facebook page, NZNO said its negotiating team was ‘‘looking forward to meaningful discussions’’ to hammer out a multiemployer collective agreement that can be put before its members.
The union vowed to push for ‘‘a safe and sustainable health system’’ for its members which included nurses, healthcare assistants and midwives.
‘‘We again want to thank every member who participated in our Industrial Action on the 12th or supported it by responding to Life Preserving Services requests,’’ the organisation said.
Today’s meeting follows 24 hours of industrial action last Thursday which saw as many as 8000 procedures cancelled or deferred.
Nurses were striking for better pay and increased staffing, having rejected four previous deals put before them.
‘‘I think it’s just such an important moment for nurses ... to be able to really visibly demonstrate the invisible problem that they’ve been dealing with for the last 10 years,’’ NZNO Industrial services manager Cee Payne said last week.
‘‘It’s about safety and safe staffing in our hospitals and the despair that they’ve been feeling when they can’t deliver that patient care that’s so important to them.’’
Last week, Health Minister David Clark said the offer to nurses was as good as it gets. ‘‘The Government has been clear that there is no money on the table to increase the salary package for nurses.
‘‘As a government, we did put in an extra $250 million in response to requests ... but our ability to do that has come to end,’’ he said.