“It’s really frustrating,” team member, Whangārei emergency nurse Rachel Thorn told Kaitiaki. “We need you all to stand by us.”
Members last week overwhelmingly rejected Te Whatu Ora’s offer and will hold mass union meetings around the motu next week from June 3 to 13 at which they will decide whether to go on strike again. The schedule for meetings can be found here.
The May 9 offer failed to show a commitment to safe staffing, nurse-patient ratios, full graduate employment or boosting senior nurses’ pay, the bargaining team said. Nor did it allow directors/associate directors of nursing and/or midwifery into the collective agreement, as sought — instead suggesting they start a new one.
‘NZNO members are ready and willing to keep fighting for a fair and just wage increase.’
It offered a one per cent pay rise, which would only take effect from April this year rather than last October when the previous agreement expired, followed by another one per cent in April 2026.
HCAs, too, are only being offered a review of their role rather than the desired professional development pathway, says bargaining team member Al Dietschin, who is an HCA himself.
The team also wanted to see Te Whatu Ora commit to recruiting to shortfalls, as recommended by safe staffing tool CCDM (care capacity demand management), and pay that reflected the value of senior nurses and matched the cost of living.
And while Te Whatu Ora had agreed to investigate culturally appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios, there was no commitment to implementing them — or CCDM — as NZNO sought.
An offer of a $2000 increase to step five of the enrolled nurses (ENs) salary scale, in recognition of their expanded scope, while appreciated, would not kick in till next year, said Glenda Huston, herself an EN.
A tikanga allowance, too, was not specific to nurses, team member Maria Tutahi said.
NZNO’s detailed claims can be found here.
NZNO’s bargaining team of 10 — representing about 35,000 members who work at Te Whatu Ora — began negotiating the 2024-26 collective agreement eight months ago, in September. They have since endured 16 meetings with Te Whatu Ora, nationwide strikes in 2024 over early-stage bargaining, and facilitation at the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) earlier this year.
In a series of non-binding recommendations, the ERA urged NZNO to drop claims related to graduate employment and director of nursing roles; and for Te Whatu Ora to better communicate with NZNO on CCDM staffing calculations.
Te Whatu Ora ‘disappointed’
Te Whatu Ora acting northern deputy chief executive Mike Shepherd said it was “very disappointed” by the rejection of its “fair” offer which adopted all the ERA’s recommendations.
The offer provided “assurances” that CCDM would inform safe staffing decisions and that nurse-patient ratios would be investigated, he said.
Citing “sizeable” pay rises for its nurses previously, Shepherd said Te Whatu Ora expected further discussions with NZNO and was committed to settling the agreement.
Te Whatu Ora said financial pressures meant it was “limited” in what pay rises it could provide. It was required to balance its books in 2026/27; reduce its deficit from $1.1 billion to $200 million and follow the Government’s new workforce policy statement which demanded “fiscal sustainability” as a priority.
Full details of its offer can be found here.
NZNO-Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa chief executive Paul Goulter said the results of the five-day online ballot, which closed at midday Friday, May 23, gave a clear message: “NZNO members are ready and willing to keep fighting for a fair and just wage increase.”