Nurses strike still on cards

The two-day nurses strike looks likely with the New Zealand Nurses Organisation saying they are “distressed” and “disappointed” with the DHBs’ revised pay offer announced to media on Monday.

DHBs offered a pay rise of more than 9 per cent by August next year, or the equivalent of bringing a quarter of a billion dollars more to the table, spokeswoman Helen Mason said at yesterday’s press conference.

Mason said an average take-home pay for full-time experienced registered nurses would be $93,000 a year by December 2019.

But NZNO industrial services manager Cee Payne said those numbers were “alarming”.

Payne said these numbers were hypothetical and “best case” scenarios, which can only occur many, many months down into the term of the agreement.

“The hypothetical $93,000 came from an example of a nurse working full time, with some overtime and significant weekend and night work.

“The reality is that the majority of nurses in this bracket are not full time and not working rostered shifts on top of this.

“Most of our members report these numbers are entirely misleading compared to their rostered hours,” Payne said.

Payne said the organisation was disappointed that the offer was told to the media before NZNO members, which had jeopardised the organisation’s ability to negotiate.

NZNO will be working through the offer and will present a decision tomorrow.