Nurses' voice a loud and clear NO
Media Release 26 March 2018
Embargo 2.15pm
Collective voice of nurses loud and clear
Following several weeks of ratification meetings nationwide DHB nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants, who are
party to the DHB MECA have voted not to ratify the DHB employer offer.
NZNO Industrial Services Manager Cee Payne says this means negotiations with the DHB employer negotiating team have
reached an impasse.
“The Employment Relations Authority requires us to continue to act in good faith with the DHB employers through this
impasse. We remain open to any meaningful discussions with the DHB employer negotiating team,” Cee Payne said.
“Our preference is to have the DHB MECA settled. Industrial action is the last resort in the event it is not settled.
“However, mid-April NZNO will discuss the need for a ballot for industrial action with national elected delegates and
staff. The nature of what industrial action might consist of will be decided then.
“We understand the impact that industrial action will impose on the health sector. Nurses are responsible and
professional and will be concerned to ensure that adequate life preserving services will be available should a strike
occur,” she said.
NZNO has today launched a campaign “#HealthNeedsNursing” and a website: (www.healthneedsnursing.nz). The campaign is a call once again to pay nursing and midwifery teams fairly, to ensure safe patient care and to
ensure the right infrastructure is in place for public healthcare.
“Members in DHBs are under huge pressures and feel their work is undervalued in a context of a decade of severe
underfunding,” Cee Payne said.
ENDS.