District Health Boards say they’re disappointed the NZ Nurses Organisation is balloting members for more strikes ahead of talks this week.

The union is proposing three strikes:

• 24 hours from 11:00 am, 29 July – until 11:00am, 30 July
• 8 hours from 11:00 am, 19 August
• 24 hours from 11:00 am, 9 September – until 11:00am, 10 September

Nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants went on strike for eight hours earlier this month and DHB Spokesperson Dale Oliff says since then, DHBs have been talking to the union exploring options for a settlement and setting dates for negotiations.

“As soon as the last strike was over, we reached out to the NZNO looking for ways we could make progress.

“We agreed on an independent mediator to find areas of common ground and a path to settlement.

“The DHBs are ready to negotiate in good faith to try and get a deal.

“We respect nurses’ right to strike. We also need to recognise that negotiation involves a degree of compromise. DHBs have moved significantly over the last six months and have made three offers – each better than the one before.

“The union came to the table with 63 claims including pay rises of 17 percent.

“We’ve responded to 35 of the claims and with a range of pay increases – especially for the lowest paid – plus a package of wellbeing initiatives and reaffirming our commitment to safe staffing.

“We’ve tried to meet the union in the middle – we ask that there is more thinking about finding a way forward rather than planning further strikes.

“While this is a setback, we will continue to do what we can to settle this agreement and avoid more strikes and disruption to patient services,” says Ms Oliff.

A summary of the DHBs’ last offer is set out below and further information is available

here

On top of this offer there was also a $4,000 lump sum advance payment on the nurses’ Pay Equity claim to address the historic undervaluation of this workforce – this is something the DHBs and NZNO have agreed and are working together to address. The settlement is expected to be agreed before the end of the year and has an effective date of 31 December 2019.

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