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The labor action – and a strike expected in August by elementary school teachers – poses a challenge to Labor's left-wing government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who came to power in October on a platform of Equity and better understanding for
New Zealand nurses left employment 30 years ago.
The union representing them claims that nurses support the public health system – to which New Zealanders have free access – with "huge" unpaid overtime, and some nurses choose to move to Australia for better wages.
The planned strike would occur several days after workers from two government departments left work on Monday. Primary school teachers also plan to strike in August for the first time in 24 years, also on wages.
The center-right opposition Nationalist Party said that Labor had raised expectations too high before the September elections. increases
Ardern is on parental leave after giving birth to his first child in June. She will return to work in August
Acting Premier, Winston Peters, acknowledged that unions representing government workers believed that they had a more favorable ear for the new government after nine years of center-right leadership for the country. 19659003] "You go to a bus stop when a bus starts to arrive," said Peters. It's not like the previous government, where we went to the bus stop and where the bus was not coming back at all. "
But he was adamant that the government no longer has money for nurses. He had already offered 37 million New Zealand dollars ($ 377 million), as well as an offer to pay for the hiring of 500 more nurses.
"It's not that we do not want to," he said. "We do not have money."
He urged nurses to reconsider the walkout on Thursday, saying the government had taken over a public health system that was "deeply in debt." Peters promised that larger wage increases would occur, but they said that they would take time.
In its latest offer, the government proposed that nurses get wage increases of 12.5 to 15.9 percent. 100 over 25 months. Many nurses want up to 20%, better working conditions and more opportunities for professional development.
Nurses' union spokeswoman Cee Payne said New Zealand's public hospitals were seriously underfunded in the last decade. She stated that the "extremely high workload" had led to a decline in nurses' morale, as well as stress and fatigue, which caused some of them to move to Australia for more pay. high. Payne said, "I feel the current government, which bears the price of negligence of the previous government."
But she disputed Peters' badertion that there was no problem. money available, noting that the government had announced Monday. the purchase by the army of four Boeing maritime patrol aircraft.
"Maybe they only bought three?" She said.
Ninety-three percent of the 27,000 New Zealand nurses are women. Ardern, 37, who became leader of the Labor Party less than two months before the elections, caught the attention of the world by coming to power and his decision to take parental leave, which was considered a symbolic victory. for the workers.
Ardern was interviewed about nurse salary negotiations when she left Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand's largest public hospital, with her granddaughter in June. She stated that her birth experience in the public health system reinforced her belief that the "value of this workforce" should be reflected in their compensation.
Four thousand workers from two ministries left work on Monday at two such planned work actions. The unions that lead the walkouts, representing the workers of the Inland Revenue Department and the Ministry of Commerce, Innovation and Employment – which includes the immigration agency from New Zealand – stated that the salary of their members had not kept up with the cost of living. We are asking for a 16% salary increase over two years to help recruit and retain staff. The government offered them between 2.2 and 2.6 percent.
This article appeared in the New York Times.
Charlotte Graham-McLay © 2018 The New York Times
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