Mayoral candidate supports strike.

Sam Kingi the Christchurch mayoral candidate for the Anti-Capitalist Alliance said “I fully support the struggle at Nurse Maude and will be standing on the picket line in solidarity with the nurses on Monday morning. The nurses’ struggle is a just one; these nurses get paid significantly less than Canterbury District Health Board nurses and have no weekend rates and less sick leave.”

“It is also outrageous that these nurses have to pay any money towards getting a practicing certificate, let alone half of it, other employers pay the full amount. The Nurse Maude Association claims it doesn’t have enough money to meet the nurses’ claims, but they should open the books for people to see if it is true and also to see how much the CEO, Ingrid Thomas receives for her ‘work’. If there is no money then the government should fund the Association and not expect the workers to receive low pay and bad conditions” said Sam Kingi.

“I congratulate the nurses for not liking the offer by management and deciding to fight for a suitable outcome. This struggle like every other struggle by workers today shows the need for a strong union movement which fights for workers. It also shows the need for a new political movement that puts the interests of workers first” said Sam Kingi.

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