Nurses on strike in Auckland earlier this month. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Healthcare workers walk off the job again today as the nurses union's dispute with Health NZ (HNZ) over pay and resourcing continues.
The impact of strike action is also in contention with each side claiming victory from a recent nationwide walkoff, where tens of thousands of union members protested against what they say is low pay and inadequate staffing.
The series of rolling strikes begin on Tuesday in Auckland, and will target a different region each day through until 19 December, with nurses walking off for a four-hour window from 1pm-5pm.
The Nurses Organisation (NZNO) said nurses, midwives, and healthcare assistants were planning to be on the picket line, with the strike window - which falls across a shift changeover - deliberately chosen to have maximum impact on services, while reducing the impact on individual nurses.
The rolling strikes follow a nation-wide strike on 3 December that saw 36,000 union members walk off the job for eight hours.
Nurses Organisation (NZNO) chief executive Paul Goulter said anecdotal evidence suggested last week's walk-off caused a good deal of disruption.
"It certainly did have an impact on Te Whatu Ora and that will continue with the rolling strikes."
But HNZ northern region deputy chief executive Mark Shepherd said the 3 December strike acted as a dry run for contingency planning and had left the organisation feeling confident patients would experience little disruption from the rolling strikes.
He said last week's strike gave the agency valuable information about its capacity to cope.
"That feedback was built into our ongoing contingency plans so we feel very prepared... for the rolling strikes that are affecting different hospitals and districts."
Shepherd said patients should attend appointments on strike days unless they hear otherwise.
Health NZ said it could not provide data on rescheduled procedures or clinic closures caused by the strikes until after the entire strike action had ended.
Goulter said while he was hopeful, he was not confident mediation scheduled this week would be fruitful - and said part of the battle was to get the health agency to agree to a minimum number of nurses on wards.
He said his members did not trust that Health NZ's revamped staffing system will be safe enough for patients on hospital wards.
"[We're] pressing hard for what we call nurse-patient ratio in order to create at least a minimum enforceable floor that Te Whatu Ora as the employer, is held to meet.
"We'll do our best to try and negotiate this problem out, but I have to say the parties are a long way apart."
Shepherd said the health agency's staffing system - called Care Capacity Demand Management - was being improved and would be reintroduced in the new year either in January or February.
He said being in the room together to negotiate was important, and Health NZ was committed to a settlement, however it would have to reflect the "ongoing reset of Health NZ" to get back to budget.
Meanwhile, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden introduced a bill yesterday that would allow employers to deduct pay for partial strike action.
Council of Trade Union chief economist Craig Renney said the nurses rolling strike action amounted to a complete withdrawal of labour - not partial - and therefore would not be targeted by such legislation.
Strike action up and down the country
- 10 December, 1-5pm: Auckland
- 11 December, 1-5pm: South Canterbury, Southern
- 12 December, 1-5pm: Counties Manukau, Whanganui, Wairarapa
- 13 December, 1-5pm: Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Hutt Valley
- 16 December, 1-5pm: Midcentral
- 17 December, 1-5pm: Northland, Waitematā, Waikato, Tairawhiti, Taranaki
- 18 December, 1-5pm: Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley, Nelson-Marlborough
- 19 December, 1-5pm: Hawke's Bay, West Coast, Canterbury
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
