Nurses strike for four hours
Primary health care (PHC) nurses went on strike yesterday, pleading for pay parity with their Te Whatu Ora colleagues.
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“We had a great turnout,” said Three Rivers nurse and New Zealand Nurses Organisation delegate Ayla Evans.
“We had nurses from three out of four of Gisborne's general practices turn out with 23 nurses in total. It was pretty effective.”
About 1500 primary health care and Plunket nurses across New Zealand went on strike for four hours, holding public rallies over their employers' inability to deliver pay parity with nurses who work for Health NZ Te Whatu Ora, due to a lack of Government funding.
“It's so much more than just the money for us.
“Lately, every single member of my team has been going home absolutely shattered. We are burning out and stress is at an all- time high. We are struggling with being short-staffed, dealing with and defusing abusive/frustrated patients, and constantly under the pump to the point where the safety of our practice is compromised.
“Never before in all my eight years of nursing have I sat in my car at the end of my working day and cried because I'm stressed, overwhelmed and am sick of being abused by patients because of the long wait times.
“Primary care is meant to be for preventing our patients/communities from needing secondary care by managing chronic conditions, health education, preventative screening, all vaccines, and helping our patients take control of their health pathways.
“We are struggling to recruit and hold staff because we can't compete with secondary rates.
“We have an ageing workforce and need to recruit now so that the knowledge from these amazing nurses can be shared and passed down.
“We are having to cancel smear, diabetes and cardiovascular clinics due to being short-staffed.
“We are begging the government for pay parity for the future of our country's health.
“Let's be honest, secondary care will not be able to function without primary health care.
“We are on the same team, with the same goals, yet it feels like the government has got its favourites.”
Yesterday's strike followed more than a year of failed negotiations with their employers.
“The support we had from the public was great — they were all for it. Yesterday would have been quite a big decider for the government. I don't think this will be the end but it is a good start.”
New Zealand College of Primary Health Care Nurses chair Tracey Morgan said the nurses who work in medical centres and after-hours emergency clinics as well as those employed at Plunket were striking to demand respect and bring attention to the value primary health care nurses provide to New Zealand.
“The inability to fix pay parity shows a basic lack of respect for our professionalism and the contribution we have made to keeping people out of hospital every day and for being the first defence against Covid-19.”
Primary health care nurses had the same qualifications, training and responsibilities as Te Whatu Ora nurses but were paid significantly less, Ms Morgan said.
“Typically, primary health care nurses earn as much as 10 to 20 percent less than their colleagues at Te Whatu Ora, while Māori and iwi provider nurses are worse off receiving as much as 25 percent less.
“This is a fundamental injustice and a threat to the health and safety of both health workers and patients.”
Filmed and Edited by
Ben Cowper
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