Nurses Strike on Staffing Levels, Salaries and Priorities

NOTICE: New Zealanders will have been struck by the grave sense of responsibility nurses expressed during their strike yesterday during their first national strike for almost 30 years. The nurses did not take it lightly.

Memo Musa, executive director of the New Zealand Nurses Organization, explained that patient safety remained paramount during the 24-hour strike and that the decision made by nurses refusing the offer of District health advice was not easy.

Nurses were also not motivated by selfish motives. The strike action concerns more than better pay deals. It is also about providing resources in an underfunded health sector, as one North Island nurse explained on a widely shared social media post.

"We want a ratio of one nurse to four patients, instead of 1-6, or 1-8, or 1-14," she writes. "We want this so that we can provide the care needed to reduce readmissions, to eliminate mistakes, to make sure that people are not lying in dirty beds or that they are not returned too soon.

It is easy to see the actions of nurses in a broader context. After nine years of center-right government, nurses and teachers were expecting more from a center-left government.

On the one hand, it is a superficial reading. However, this shows a broader picture of a low-wage economy in which well-regarded professionals and workers are finally asking themselves: "If it is not now, when?" Opposite, the last offer seems very reasonable. Acting Premier, Winston Peters, qualifies the most important salary increase offer for nurses for 14 years and he seems unwilling to move. The offer includes three salary increases of 3% over 18 months, a $ 38 million injection of funds to hire about 500 more nurses, a $ 2000 lump sum payment and a pay equity commitment. By December 2019.

better than the government can do? Finance Minister Grant Robertson is wearing the same poker face as Peters when he says there is more money but the negotiations will continue.

This line contrasts with recent government announcements that the economy is doing better than expected. Last week, the Crown's accounts showed that the tax bill increased by $ 300 million and the accounts are even better than expected when Robertson tabled the budget in May.

At the time, Robertson described this good result as a side effect of his cautious financial responsibility, saying "the latest accounts show that the coalition government is keeping our commitment to responsibly managing books by managing Surprising and sustaining surpluses

Of course, these expenses include the public health sector and the salaries of those who work there.The government may find that it is captive not only of the groups' expectations. Interest and sectors that have traditionally supported the Labor during periods of semi-austerity, but also that such good economic news will have many people wondering if and when turn.

Like other commentators l & 39; have pointed out, the same nurses and their friends in the teaching profession can also watch the news of a defense expense project from $ 2 billion and ask what are the priorities.

– The Press