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RNZ News
6 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Nursing union members hold stop work meetings over stalled pay talks
File photo. The Nurses Organisation and Health NZ have been in bargaining since late last year. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Nurses are looking for better pay and higher staff-to-patient ratios after rejecting the latest Health NZ offer, a Nurses' Organisation delegate says. A series of stop-work meetings take place this week to discuss the next steps following a vote by members to turn down the offer. Wellington Hospital delegate Hilary Gardner said a commitment to improving staff-to-patient ratios was needed, and the pay increase was essentially a pay cut. "It's what's not in the offer that's the big concern for us. There's not a lot that commitment for health and safety and safe staffing." She said nothing was off the table, including strike action. Health NZ said it wanted nurses to return to the bargaining table to resolve the issue. Gardener said the rejected offer came after many days of bargaining already since their contract expired late last year. Health NZ regional deputy chief executive Dr Mike Shepherd said it believed the offer was fair. "The employment relations authority agrees with that view, we're really keen that our nursing colleagues return to the negotiation table, so we can continue this conversation, so we can continue delivering the care our community needs. "We really respect our nursing colleagues, we do need to be fiscally prudent, and we've made this offer. "We think nursing pay rates have had a number of uplifts over recent years and of course we're keen to continue to that conversation," he said. He said there was a system in place, set up in conjunction with the nursing union, that matches demand on the wards with the nurses available.
Otago Daily Times
16-05-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
'Stressful, burnt out' Christchurch health workers meet to share their struggles and horror stories
By Rachel Graham of RNZ Spinal patients having to wait for specialist care, psychiatrists struggling to keep up with the workload and student nurses eyeing up Australia before they are even fully trained - these were just some of the stories shared at a meeting about the health system in Christchurch. The meeting was organised by the Nurses Organisation, as a chance for people to come together and talk about the pressures they are facing. After 18 years working as a district nurse, union delegate Maree Vincent said she has never seen conditions so bad. "Stressful, burnt out nurses, huge patient loads, pay inequities, no pay parity, and funding not being dropped down to the primary health to keep going." She said one of the joys of her role was getting to know her patients, but that was harder when workers were increasingly short on time. Trainee nurse and the national student representative for ARA polytech, Dawn Blyth said student nurses were also feeling the stressed, with many struggling with the high cost of living while doing unpaid clinical placements and no certainty of a job at the end of their training. "Even last year in our first year, a lot of students in our cohort were talking then - I'm going to go to Australia, because the pay is better and there are more jobs over there," said Blyth. Carin Conaghan is a psychiatrist at Christchurch's Hillmorton Hospital and a delegate with the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. She said her sector, too, was under more pressure than ever. "Our staff are having increased workloads," Conaghan said, "in terms of the number of people they are managing. The people that we are seeing are coming in more unwell. And that is impacting on staff's well being." She said more psychiatrists were leaving the public sector each year than joining it. Conaghan said in the past, people accepted that the pay in New Zealand was less than in countries such as Australia or the UK, but the working conditions were the draw card. But that was no longer the case. She said psychiatrists were getting paid up to 60% less in New Zealand than in Australia. Andrew Hall, national programme manager of the New Zealand Spinal Trust, said the problems within the health sector for people with spinal injuries could feel overwhelming. "Waitlist to get into the spinal service, two spinal unit(s) in New Zealand both of which have long waitlists," Hall said. "New acutes are waiting in the acute hospitals to come across to the units because of a lack of space. And some innovative things having to be done to manage people in private hospitals, for people who would normally be in care in the spinal units." Health administrator and PSA delegate Nancy McShane said she and others fought for 13 years to get pay equity for administration and clerical workers, which was settled in 2022. In 2023 McShane received a Queen's Service Medal for Services to Women and Equal Pay for that work. She said the recent changes to the pay equity system will have a terrible impact on the health system. "I think about the care workers in particular. This really angers me. They had a claim before us. They opened the door to all the other pay equity claims, and now they have had the rug pulled out from under their feet," McShane said. She said rest home care was already in crisis, and the changes to the Equal Pay Amendment Act will only make the situation worse.
RNZ News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Nationwide protests take place over pay equity changes
politics inequality 40 minutes ago Nationwide protests are taking place on Friday in opposition to the government's controversial pay equity law changes - pushed through under urgency this week. Nurses Organisation's Justine Sachs spoke to Charlotte Cook.
