Members in clinical roles currently have pay parity with district health board (DHB) community rates and they want that to be maintained in any new collective agreement (CA). Another claim for those in clinical roles will be the option of being paid for eight hours a day, rather than the current 7.6 hrs/day. NZNO’s lead advocate for the negotiations, Danielle Davies, said all frontline clinical staff were paid for a 7.6 hour day, an historical anomaly. This did not apply to other Plunket staff.
The claim for Family Start members in Tauranga and Manawatu, who gained coverage under the Plunket CA in 2019, is pay parity with Oranga Tamariki social workers. And administration workers’ pay claim would be guided by the Public Service Association’s pay equity case for DHB clerical workers, due to be finalised by mid-year.
Davies said there had been a “really good turnout” at meetings, some of which had been held via Zoom. She said the term of the new CA would likely be a short one because some pay rates and a number of conditions would be aligned with the outcome of the DHB multi-employer collective negotiations.
Davies said she expected negotiations to get underway next month.
Other members of the negotiating team are: NZNO organiser Selina Robinson and delegates Hannah Cook (Plunketline nurse and NZNO primary health care national delegate committee member, Wellington), Kathy Greenstreet (clinical leader, Auckland), Wendy Dawson (Plunket nurse, Christchurch), Laurie Stuart (community Karitane, Auckland), Vinita Pillay (administrative team leader, Auckland) and Sarah Sheppard (Family Start whānau worker, Tauranga).
