21 May 2006

Practice Nurses Reconfirm Support for Pay Parity Campaign

A key gathering of New Zealand’s practice nurses has strongly backed the New Zealand Nurses Organisation campaign for pay parity in primary healthcare this afternoon.

Over 250 practice nurses are attending their annual AGM in Wellington.

The Chair of the NZNO College of Practice Nurses, Rosemary Minto, told the conference the time had now come to win pay parity in her address to the conference this afternoon.

“Practice nurses are adamant that the time has come for pay parity with their counterparts in public hospitals and intend to redouble their efforts to campaign and achieve this,” she said.

Rosemary Minto said the mood of the conference reflected the absolute determination to close the gap with nurses employed in public hospitals. By July 1 that gap will be nearly $200 a week.

“We are very clear that our role at the forefront of delivering the primary healthcare strategy is increasingly complex and we expect to be valued for that role,” she said.

NZNO is currently in negotiations with over 650 primary health employers for a primary healthcare multi employer collective agreement (MECA).

The majority of NZNO’s 2700 members who are covered by the MECA are practice nurses, with the rest employed by community health centres, Iwi and Maori providers and accident and medical centres.

Negotiations resume on June 8 and 9.

ENDS