Kia ora Member,
Please find below the formal notification as required by the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2020 of the process that will be used for those covered by the DHB/NZNO/PSA Pay Equity Claim Settlement, to approve or ratify the settlement.
To: All Employees Covered By NZNO/PSA Pay Equity Claim
And to: All DHB’s
NZNO and PSA have been engaged in an extensive pay equity bargaining process since first raising a claim on behalf of union members employed by DHB’s as:
- senior nurses
- registered nurses
- registered obstetric nurses
- public health nurses
- nurse practitioners
- karitane nurses
- enrolled nurses
- health care assistants
- mental health nurses.
All non-union employees who perform the same or substantially similar work have been notified by their DHB of the pay equity claim.
Under the Equal Pay Act any proposed pay equity claim settlement will cover both union members and non-members performing the same or substantially similar work.
NZNO and PSA are pleased to confirm that the pay equity bargaining process has been concluded with a settlement agreed between the parties.
NZNO and PSA now give notice to all employees covered by the union-raised pay equity claim of the process for voting on whether to approve or decline the proposed pay equity claim settlement:
- the vote will be preceded by meetings (which will be held online due to Covid-19) to explain the outcome of the pay equity bargaining process and the proposed pay equity settlement
- the vote will be open to all employees covered by the union-raised claim, including non-union employees who have been notified of the claim by their DHB
- all employees will be provided with a copy of the proposed pay equity claim settlement at a reasonable time before voting starts
- the method of voting will be by an online ballot
- we will advise the final date for votes to be cast, which will also be the final day on which non-union employees may opt out of the union-raised pay equity claim
- the vote will be determined by a simple majority of those entitled to vote and who do vote
- if the proposed pay equity claim settlement is approved by the vote, the settlement will be signed by NZNO and PSA. Your employment agreement will be deemed to be varied to require your employer to pay the more favourable remuneration agreed in the pay equity claim settlement [and to include any other more favourable terms and conditions included in the pay equity claim settlement]
- no individual pay equity claim may be brought subsequent to the pay equity claim settlement being approved
We are expecting the full draft Pay Equity Settlement Agreement to be provided to us this week. It has been delayed because other parties involved in the process have been dealing with the Omicron surge. We are doing our best to push this process along and acknowledge the frustrations that we are all feeling due to delays and not being able to provide a concrete timeframe.
Please see our update that describes the steps the Agreement must go through before details of the settlement are able to be released.
I roto i te kōtahitanga - in unity,
Glenda Alexander & Lesley Harry
On behalf of the PE Bargaining Team