Hawkes Bay/Canterbury and West Coast NZNO members employed by Te Whatu Ora will tomorrow (Tuesday 17 December) strike for four hours over patient safety concerns following recent collective bargaining with Health NZ.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) members fear Te Whatu Ora’s plans to pause a key component of its safe staffing programme put patient and whānau safety and wellbeing at risk.

NZNO Hawkes Bay delegate and spokesperson Noreen McCallan says she and her colleagues are striking because the HNZ bargaining team have not been given a mandate by this coalition Government to consider NZNO's claims which include a fair wage increase, (decades old) terms and conditions to be reviewed, and ratios to be considered alongside a functional and honoured CCDM system.

"During last year's bargaining round, HNZ argued strongly to keep CCDM. They wouldn't even discuss ratios because of their "commitment" to CCDM. This time, while simultaneously refusing to consider ratios, it has chosen since July 2024 to "temporarily" pause FTE calculations. This means areas where it is calculated to increase the numbers of nurses for the safety of patients are ignored and jobs are going unfilled once vacant.

"This leads to unsafe staffing and ultimately risk to patient lives," Noreen McCallan says.

For Christchurch nurse Debbie Handisides this strike is for future nurses and heath care, and to not lose the gains made for nurses and patients in recent years.

"We have fought for years for nurses to be paid equally to a male comparator, but with the parameters that Te Whatu Ora are proposing up to 1% total cost of a nurse won’t even meet the household cost of living, so why would anyone pick nursing as a career if it can’t pay their bills.

"The future of health care sits on nurses' shoulders because we care with our hearts, yet the Government just talks about budget targets saving lives, when it’s actually doctors and nurses that save lives."

NZNO’s previous media release about the strikes can be found here.

Find strike locations here

© Scoop Media