It is rare for private hospital staff to strike but nurses told Kaitiaki they were fed up with not being listened to after 15 months of seeking better pay and leave entitlements.
About 230 NZNO members work at Wellington’s Bowen and Wakefield hospitals, and Hawke’s Bay’s Royston Hospital — all owned by Evolution.
Members’ demands include a 7.3 per cent increase in wages backpaid to 2020 (the rate of inflation); wages for 2022 onwards at Te Whatu Ora pay equity rates and the same public holiday and sick leave entitlements as Te Whatu Ora. “Evolution has offered well below this. They have resolutely refused to move and not meaningfully engaged in mediation,” Wakefield Hospital registered nurse (RN) and NZNO delegate Lisa Blackmore said.
There had been no pay increase since bargaining began in 2020, and their pay and conditions now lagged behind Te Whatu Ora. “We are not going to keep our staff, as you can go to elsewhere and earn more,” RN Jan Falconer said.
Bowen Hospital theatre nurse Simon Auty said nurses were leaving the Evolution group for other hospitals, including public. “We don’t expect internationally competitive rates but you can’t just pay the same as Te Whatu Ora with worse conditions and expect people to come and work for you.”
Wakefield Hospital nurse Annette Dillon said the latest backpay offer of 4.5 per cent “doesn’t even bring some of our members up to a living wage”.
NZNO organiser Danielle Davies said mediation on October 19 had been “disappointing” with Evolution disengaged and taking a “tick box” approach. “They just sat there, they didn’t engage meaningfully — even though I said we were happy to go back to work if they presented us with a new offer.”
About 40-50 members turned out in the Wellington suburb of Newtown to protest over pay and conditions outside Wakefield Hospital, with more than 25 turning up at the smaller Bowen Hospital in the surburb of Crofton Downs.
About 55 turned out at Havelock North’s Royston Hospital which was “fantastic” turnout, organiser Stephanie Meeks said. “Everyone was really into it. I don’t think anyone had had too much to do with a strike before, but we had a great time!”
Davies said the corporation turned down NZNO’s offer to call off the strike during mediation — yet had blamed nurses for delaying 80 elective procedures across the three hospitals.
“We offered to withdraw strike action, but they said ‘we don’t want nurses thinking strikes work’,” she told protestors. “It’s absolute greed, and it’s absolutely disrespectful.”
NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter said all hospitals needed to meet expected pay standards, otherwise their staff would leave. “I don’t think this is about the company’s ability to pay — I think it’s sheer bloody-mindedness,” he told nurses in Wellington. “I think they stand condemned.
“I can’t understand why, in the middle of the worst nursing crisis, would you want to annoy your nurses?”
In a statement, Evolution’s acting chief executive Matthew Clarke said they had offered a 15 per cent median pay rise “plus a range of other benefits” but this was rejected.
“We have been working hard to be one of the first employers to meet our nurses’ pay equity expectations and have included a guaranteed top up if the public sector settles at a higher rate during the term of this agreement,” he said in a statement. “We have done everything we could to prevent a strike, however we have prepared and have rescheduled about 80 elective procedures across the three hospitals.”
