“Unprintable!” That was one Wellington nurse’s response today to being forced to wait another 10 years for a pay equity review.
NZNO members around the country went full purple today to mark the upcoming International Women’s Day and make a continued pitch for pay equity.
Outside Wellington Regional Hospital, nurse manager Rachel Moss said having to wait till 2033 to have the HNZ 2023 pay equity settlement reviewed would likely mean nurses’ pay would again lag behind male-dominated workforces.
‘You put so much on yourself and your body — your mental health — to help all these people and not being shown the same support as men is sad.’
The Government’s shock dumping of 33 pay equity claims last year left hundreds of thousands of workers hanging — including hospice and Whānau Āwhina-Plunket nurses and kaiāwhina. Some claims were only weeks away from completion.
Community care and support workers must now wait till 2027 to review their historic 2017 pay equity settlement.
“It’s another way to repress women,” agreed senior nurse, Lynne Cowley.
Wellington dialysis health-care assistant (HCA) Tasi Grant said said it was important to make people aware of what was a big pay gap.
“It’s sad, it’s upsetting, because doing this work is really hard. You put so much on yourself and your body — your mental health — to help all these people and not being shown the same support as men is sad.”
Grant said she loved her department, and helping people through the moments that brought them into hospital — “bringing a little bit of brightness into their lives”.
Wellington nurse Hilary Gardner said it had taken so long to win pay equity in 2023 and now Te Whatu Ora nurses’ pay was going backwards again.
“It’s one step forward and two steps back.”
Porirua nurse Helen Kemp made the trip all the way to Wellington Hospital for the “dignity of women”.
She saw first-hand how the gutting of the Equal Pay Act had a huge impact on communities and child poverty.
To watch a mum-and-daughter duo at Wellington hospital click here. And click here to see NZNO’s Te Whatu Ora bargaining team turn purple too.
Equity stolen away
Pay equity seeks the same pay for female-dominated professions (nurses, care and support workers) as male-dominated mahi requiring similar effort, skills and responsibilities.
Last May the Government ripped away $12.8 billion worth of pay equity claims from women-led workforces including hospice and Plunket workers — just weeks away from being filed — as well as care and support workers.
The entire process had been done in secrecy while unions and industry groups continued working on claims. The axed claims included 12 by NZNO.
Meanwhile, the go-purple day was bolstered by the announcement by former National MP Jackie Blue that she had quit the party after 25 years. The Government’s gutting of pay equity claims was the “atomic bomb” that forced her to make the decision.
Blue was part of the people’s select committee that released its report last month into its findings on the law change.
NZNO’s Te Whatu Ora bargaining team took a break from negotiations to express support for pay equity.
Photos across the motu
“It’s horrific that a woman in Government would support this kind of action against other women – it’s pretty outrageous,” Whangārei emergency nurse Rachel Thorn said.
Many who turned out in Wellington were senior nurses, frustrated at Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand’s (HNZ) ongoing refusal to expand their pay scale.
