Te Whatu Ora theatre nurses and health care assistants at Whangārei Hospital who are NZNO members will strike next Tuesday over concerns about chronic and ongoing staff shortages.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) perioperative nurses and health care assistants – from the surgical admission unit, theatre and post anaesthetic units – will undertake three rolling four-hour strikes beginning at 7am and ending at 7pm on Tuesday 24 June.
NZNO delegate and perioperative nurse Steph Moule says the nurses and health care assistants are standing up for their patients.
“This stand is part of the current collective agreement bargaining between NZNO and Te Whatu Ora. Our patients deserve safe staffing levels. Not burnt out nurses and health care assistants who don’t have time to give them the care they need.
“Our patients deserve better. Our members will not accept patient safety being threatened by unrealistic budget cuts.”
Steph Moule says overworked nurses and health care assistants are also facing an effective pay cut.
“The latest offer made by Te Whatu Ora offered a 1% wage increase this year backdated and a further 1% next April. That doesn’t keep up with the cost of living and will see nurses and health care workers and their whānau going backwards financially,” she says.