But strike threat on August 8 remains
Praneeta Mahajan
Hamilton, August 1, 2023
More than 30,000 Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) employed nurses will receive a pay rise and a one-off lump sum payment to address historic pay equity issues, Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall has announced.
Nurses and healthcare assistants employed by Health New Zealand have voted to accept an historic pay equity settlement and in addition to increased pay rates, nurses will receive a lump sum payment of up to $15,000.
“This government values nurses and ending gender-based pay discrimination is a crucial part of our work in this area,” Ms Verrall said.
“Higher pay will also improve the retention of nurses and address workforce shortages and we are already seeing strong results. Under this government, last year more than 8000 nurses registered for the first time, a 60% increase from the previous year, and in the last quarter the number of nurses registered to practice in New Zealand grew by about 2000.
Improving Pay Rates
“We are also committed to improving pay rates for our nurses to help address decades of under-payment, and to remove the undervaluation of work performed by women. I am delighted that with today’s agreement, we can put more money into the pockets of our hard-working nurses.”
The new pay rates will be backdated to 7 March 2022, providing pay equity increases of 6.5% for senior nurses and 4.5% for registered nurses, enrolled nurses, health care assistants and mental health care assistants. Senior nurses will earn between $105,704 and $153,060 per annum full-time, plus penal rates and registered nurses will earn between $69,566 and $99,630 per annum full-time, plus penal rates.
“This is the second pay rise for nurses in the past nine months, the first being the interim 14% pay equity adjustment paid in April this year and backdated to 7 March 2022, and the $10,000 lump sum payment (pro-rated) already part paid,” Ms Verrall said.
“I am pleased that Health New Zealand and Union officials were able to work together to achieve this deal, which has been a long time coming.”
Strike not averted
However, the threat of strike action by nurses next month is not yet completely averted, as they still need to vote on the separate collective agreement offer from Health New Zealand.
Nurses Organisation (NZNO) Chief Executive Paul Goulter said the outcome was “a significant milestone in the history of nursing in New Zealand.”
“This is a long overdue step towards addressing the significant gender-based inequality nurses, midwives, health care assistants and Kaimahi Hauora face in their work every day. But it is also just a beginning, and we look forward to working with Health New Zealand to address other forms of gender-based discriminations nurses face.”
The Union would “not rest” until the new rates addressing gender inequality were extended to all nurses working in New Zealand, he said. “The need for pay parity across all nursing sectors is well-established and not in dispute. That all nurses are paid the same according to their qualifications and experience is a matter of wage justice.”
Voting was open from August 1 to August 7, 2023, for NZNO’s Health New Zealand members to accept the latest collective agreement offer from hospitals.
That amounts to a flat rate salary increase of $4000 ($5000 for senior nurses) and a further 3% next year. A 24-hour strike planned to commence at 7 am on 9 August, which was organised before the latest offer, will be called off if members vote to accept the offer.
Praneeta Mahajan is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Hamilton.
