Kia ora Member,

Response to the no vote

On Thursday of last week NZNO issued the media release Primary health care nurses reject pay offer. It was great to see the NZ Medical Association, General Practice Owners Association (GenPro) and Green Cross Health also made statements giving clear support for pay parity and the necessity of additional funding.

Our release received good coverage on many radio outlets and in NZ Doctor. Denise Moore, one of your delegates on our negotiation team, gave a great interview on Radio New Zealand (RNZ) clearly articulating your frustrations with the previous offer and the undervaluing of PHC workers.

In response to both NZNO’s and the employers’ media comments, Health Minister David Clark indicated to RNZ that he did not believe his Ministry had a say in the pay dispute. He said, “As Minister of Health, I value hugely the work of nurses both inside and outside the public health service. However nurses working in non-DHB workplaces, including primary health, are employed by private employers. Their pay and conditions are not negotiated with the government or crown entities. It is not appropriate for government to interfere in that process.”

This is very disappointing and unacceptable on two fronts. Being equally valued means being paid the same for the same qualifications, skills and experience as your DHB colleagues. It’s as simple as that!

Second, as noted in our media release, the government recently announced additional funding for early childhood centres which they explicitly stated was to address staffing shortages; particularly, teachers leaving over low pay. Early childhood centres are private employers yet the government intervened in this one so we don’t think there’s any difference.

Where to next?

We have confirmed negotiations will begin again on 10 June and it is important we keep the pressure on in the meantime.

This week we will publicly question the Minister’s comments, ensuring we make clear that appropriate PHC sector funding is allocated via the DHBs and primary health organisations (PHOs). We will stress that while DHBs are paying their own nurses at the higher rates negotiated in the DHB/NZNO MECA, they are not passing on enough funding to ensure PHC workers are paid the same.

Likewise, employers are requesting targeted PHC funding from the increased DHB funds in the Budget.

Later this week we will release an online petition to call for pay parity. We need as many signatures as possible recorded by 10 June, so your assistance with this is vital! We will send out an alert as soon as the petition is launched.

We acknowledge that these are truly trying times and assure you that we are committed to achieving pay parity in these negotiations.

Ngā mihi

Your NZNO negotiation team: Chris Wilson, Mike Yeats, Karen Smith, Sarah Redpath and Denise Moore