Nurses strike in Christchurch in February.
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

Nurses and healthcare assistants employed by Te Whatu Ora have voted to simply accept an historic pay fairness settlement that may web some as much as $28,000 in lump sums and backpay.

However, it doesn’t imply the specter of strike action by nurses next month is averted, as they’ve but to vote on the separate collective settlement supply from Te Whatu Ora.

The pay fairness declare lodged by the unions in 2017 below the Equal Pay Act, is supposed to repair long-standing sex-based discrimination and convey wages into line with male-dominated professions.

The proposed settlement got here out of mediation between Te Whatu Ora, the Nurses Organisation and PSA, which had been in litigation over the declare within the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and Employment Court since early 2022.

The amended charges can be backpaid to 7 March, 2022.

Te Whatu Ora already paid out lump sums of $10,000 final March, and along with extra lump sums and backpay on the revised pay charges, workers had been owed between $17,000 and $29,000, relying on position and seniority.

Nurses Organisation (NZNO) chief govt Paul Goulter mentioned the end result was “a significant milestone in the history of nursing in Aotearoa”.

“This is a long overdue step towards addressing the significant gender-based inequality nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora face in their work every day. But it is also just a beginning, and we look forward to working with Te Whatu Ora to address other forms of gender-based discriminations nurses face.”

The union would “not rest” till the brand new charges addressing gender inequality had been prolonged to all nurses working in New Zealand, he mentioned.

“The need for pay parity across all nursing sectors is well-established and not in dispute. That all nurses are paid the same according to their qualifications and experience is a matter of wage justice.”

Meanwhile, voting was open 1 – 7 August for NZNO’s Te Whatu Ora members over whether or not to simply accept the most recent collective settlement supply from hospitals.

That quantities to a flat price wage improve of $4000 ($5000 for senior nurses) and an extra 3 % subsequent yr.

A 24-hour strike deliberate to begin at 7am on 9 August, which was organised earlier than the most recent supply, can be referred to as off if members vote to simply accept the supply.