Nurses poised to strike

Negotiations are breaking down over a planned strike for nurses at private hospitals in Wellington and Hawke’s Bay. The New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) is planning a second strike on Thursday December 1 at privately-owned Bowen and Wakefield Hospitals in Wellington and Royston Hospital in Hastings. But chief executive of Evolution Healthcare Sue Channon put out a statement yesterday, saying the strikes were ‘‘totally unnecessary’’ and she was ‘‘disappointed and frustrated’’. In response, NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter said it looked like Evolution Healthcare wanted to negotiate through the media. ‘‘That is completely unacceptable and a breach of good faith.’’ Evolution Healthcare and NZNO disagree on whether a further pay offer has been made at all. The first strike was held on October 20.

The Government has agreed to boost aged-care nurses’ pay by $200 million a year to close a wage gap with hospital-employed nurses.

Health Minister Andrew Little, announcing the funding decision this morning, said nurses and healthcare assistants at aged-care facilities, hospices, and Māori and Pacific healthcare organisations that have contracts with Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand would soon be paid more.

‘‘The funding is to enable healthcare providers for whom there is a disparity in pay between their staff and equivalent hospital staff to bridge that gap,’’ Little said. ‘‘The biggest differences are with aged and residential care . . . .

‘‘They are losing nursing staff and healthcare system staff to the hospital sector, and they need some stability, and they need something that helps them retain the people they’ve got, and attract people to that sector as well.’’

Little expected that contracts between Te Whatu Ora and private employers of nurses in the aged-care and other sectors could be promptly redrawn. Employers that already paid healthcare staff wages that were comparable to that of hospital staff would not be eligible to receive the funding.

About $40m would be available in the remainder of this financial year, and from July 2023 there would be $200m a year.

‘‘I expect in the first quarter of next year, that agreements will be reached,’’ Little said.

However, in some cases, collective employment agreements already being negotiated will need to be concluded before agreements for the new funds can be finalised.

Little said it was his expectation that nurses and healthcare assistants in GP practices would be excluded, however, as previous funding boosts by the Government had already increased pay of these workers to be on par with that of hospital staff.

The Government was also negotiating pay-equity agreements with midwives, allied health workers and home care and support workers. A further $540m a year had been put aside for a pay equity settlement for nurses working for Te Whatu Ora.

Little said there was ‘‘an outflow of both nurses and healthcare assistants from agedresidential care into hospitals’’ due to lack of pay equity.

‘‘We help with staffing issues in aged residential care, then we increase the likelihood that people who are in hospital at the moment can be discharged to those places, so we improve the occupancy levels and take the pressure off hospitals.’’