International Socialists

On December the 3rd and 4th last year 2,500 nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers marched through Christchurch in protest as part of a strike that affected 16 hospitals. They were striking against low pay, long hours, understaffing and poor staff conditions and support. In the latest pay negotiations the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) originally asked for a pay increase of 13% for nurses and midwives, the Canterbury District Health Board offered 4% and had no plans to budge.

 

Since the strike the media has been full of emotional stories of babies being flown to other hospitals, sick people put under extra stress and not-so-subtle messages that nurses are needlessly putting patient safety at risk for their own selfish gains. Others have not even tried to be subtle, The Press stated that nurses are selfish and greedy and others that they are even amoral. The political reaction has not been much different. Ken Shirley, the ACT Party labour spokesperson has stated that nurses are making unrealistic demands and his solution is to make nursing strikes illegal. This view was at least partly supported by our "left wing" labour minister Margaret Wilson who said that this idea was not ruled out for future policy.

 

Canterbury nurses only want to be paid fairly and at the same rate as other nurses in New Zealand. For the last decade nurses have been paid differently for doing the same job in different parts of the country, a system that's inherently unfair, but a legacy of the Employment Contracts Act under which nurses have been divided and exploited. A fifth year nurse will receive $41,350 in Auckland and with the 6% wage increase gained, in Christchurch a nurse will still only receive $38,603.

 

Five other South Island District Health Boards have signed multi-employer collective agreements (MECAs) with the NZNO and nurses everywhere else in the South Island will be paid the same wages and receive the same conditions, a similar agreement is being considered for the North Island. There has also been a trend of growing disparity between nurse's pay and that of other health professionals. Radiation therapists for example have just gained a 25% pay rise, whereas nurses have had to struggle collectively for 6%.

 

The strike however, was about more than just poor pay and conditions. It was also about the poor morale of the health workforce over the last decade of market led health policy. Nurses believe that compromising patient safety did not start with their strikes but is caused by the chronic overworking, understaffing and undervaluing of nurses and midwives.

 

Jean O'Callaghan, the spokesperson for the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) accepts that nurses are undervalued but stresses that demands cannot be met in one year, stating that there just isn't the money to pay nurses, midwives and other health professionals what they deserve. Nurses on the picket line however are dismayed by the CDHB's decision to fly in nurses to cover shifts from other parts of the country and pay these nurses triple time for their labour, they are also angered that the $1 million spent on the strike could have gone towards meeting some of their concerns.

 

The Labour/Alliance Coalition Government has placed much emphasis on the formulation of District Health Boards (DHB) which are supposed to be more community based, accountable and efficient. The government has been accused of handing the DHB's the responsibility of running health services, but not giving them enough money to do so, as illustrated by the Canterbury strikes. However, this situation is not limited to the CDHB, other DHB's face similar problems, the Taranaki DHB for example has a net working deficit of $8.1 million, and is expected to treat more patients for less money with an 8% increase on patients seen over the last financial year.

 

Other health professional groups have also been watching the progress of the nurses' dispute with interest, as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dental therapists, social workers, psychologists and dieticians prepare for wage negotiations. This government needs to address some of these concerns because as nurses gain collective strength and demand wages closer to what they deserve so will other related health services. John Shennan, Public Services Association Organiser, says that nationally standardised remuneration needs to be reintroduced or else strikes, lockouts and chaos will become commonplace.

 

Nurses have long been advocates for patient safety, they are the glue that is holding our health system together and it is the government who is not placing any regard on patient safety when they underfund the health system.