New Zealand’s nurses to strike over pay offer

Nurses in New Zealand are to strike today for the first time in 30 years after turning down a pay offer.

More than 30,000 staff will walk out for 24 hours after negotiations over wages broke down. The strike will disrupt health services nationwide and mean all non-urgent treatment will be postponed, Winston Peters, the country’s acting prime minister, said yesterday.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, is on maternity leave.