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Nurses accept DHBs offer

Brittany Keogh

Nurses represented by the sector’s largest union will get an immediate $5800 pay rise to their base salaries after accepting the Government’s latest offer in long-running negotiations over pay and conditions.

The New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) said in a statement that 83 per cent of its 32,000 members, who are employed by district health boards (DHBs), voted yesterday in favour of the proposed collective agreement. The pay rise would be backdated to September 6 and cost DHBs $400 million.

The union’s lead advocate and industrial advisor David Wait said the main difference between the latest offer and what the Government had previously put on the table was that all DHBs had committed to permanently employing new graduates, rather than offering them temporary contracts. That would give entry-level nurses job security and give other staff peace of mind that wards would be safely staffed.

‘‘We have been in negotiations for 15 months, so it is great to receive something that both addresses pay issues and makes important progress towards safe staffing.’’

DHBs would also have to immediately start recruiting for any extra positions identified in yearly estimates of projected staffing requirements, instead of phasing them in. The latest round of bargaining came after nurses launched strike action earlier this year and in the wake of an Employment Relations Authority hearing in August.

A separate negotiation between the union and the Government around pay equity, which aims to correct historic sexbased pay discrimination was also progressing well. That process was expected to be completed by the end of November.

‘‘The indications are that there are going to be some large pay increases out of that,’’ Wait said.

Members voted in record numbers. When the ballot closed at midday it had the highest turnout the union had received.

In Wait’s view, the pay rise and boost to staffing levels could serve as a carrot to attract back nurses who had left the profession and encourage more people to train in the career.

‘‘We think this is a really positive step forward in terms of fixing the nursing shortage ... I do think that it will have an impact on the wider nursing workforce. Other employers will either have to match [the pay rates] or risk losing their staff.’’

DHB spokeswoman Dale Oliff said: ‘‘This is tremendous news for all those involved and testament to the hard work of the representatives from the teams involved’’.

Health Minister Andrew Little also welcomed the result. ‘‘Nurses have been under-paid and under-valued for a long time, and the Government is committed to doing something about it.

‘‘The review I ordered in August of the Safe Staffing Accord is well under way, and action is being taken to recruit nurses into those vacant positions.’’

He expected pay equity to ‘‘really make a difference’’ to the experience of nurses.

Nurses who are part of the Public Services Association accepted the same pay offer from DHBs in September.

‘‘We think this is a really positive step forward in terms of fixing the nursing shortage.’’ David Wait NZ Nurses’ Organisation advocate

National News

en-nz

2021-10-16T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-16T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281676848098926

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