Latest news with #NewZealandNursesOrganisation
Scoop
11-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Hospital Nurses To Take Nationwide Strike Action
Friday, 11 July 2025, 2:05 pm Press Release: New Zealand Nurses Organisation More than 36,000 Te Whatu Ora nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora have voted to strike for 24-hours after Health NZ failed to address their safe staffing concerns. New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) Chief Executive Paul Goulter says there was strong support from members to take strike action after a new offer from Te Whatu Ora last week was worse than a previous one in May. "This latest offer from Te Whatu Ora fails to address concerns about safe staffing despite them being raised continually throughout the collective agreement bargaining process. "Patients are at risk because of short staffing. Nurses, midwives and health care assistants are stretched too thin and can't give patients the care they need. This is heartbreaking for our exhausted members who became health care workers because they want to help people. "Te Whatu Ora data obtained by NZNO under the Official Information Act shows between January and November last year, 50% of all days shifts were understaffed across hospital wards in 16 health districts," Paul Goulter says. (see table in editor's notes) To "add insult to injury" members have again been offered a wage increase which doesn't meet cost of living increases and will see them and their whānau go backwards financially, he says. "There were 30,000 New Zealanders who moved to Australia in the past year. We know some of them are burnt out nurses moving for better conditions and wages. "Te Whatu Ora needs to do more to retain our nursing workforce, employ graduate nurses and ensure patients get the care they need. This is about the health and wellbeing of real people and their whānau, not the need to meet some arbitrary budget set by the Government. "It looks like this Government has lost control of health," Paul Goulter says. Notes: -The nationwide strike will be held from 9am on Wednesday 30 July until 9am on Thursday 31 July. -The strike will be a complete withdrawal of labour at every place in New Zealand where Te Whatu Ora provides health care or hospital care services. -Life preserving services will continue to be provided. © Scoop Media
Otago Daily Times
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Return to top level a triumph
If there is one thing guaranteed to put a smile on Beth Strickland's face, it is gymnastics. The sport has been her passion for as long as she can remember and she is breaking down walls to help give back to the next generation. Strickland started rhythmic gymnastics as a child in Australia and continued when her family moved to Nelson in 2012. The 26-year-old was the national level eight and level nine champion in her final two years of school, in 2015 and 2016, before her coach retired, leaving Strickland to take a break as well. Strickland, who is now at level 10, kept an eye on the sport, and when a position for an athlete adviser on the national rhythmic technical committee came up in 2021, she jumped at the chance to help. It was after landing in Dunedin for her career as a union organiser for the New Zealand Nurses Organisation that Strickland competed in a masters competition and realised she still had what it took. Returning to fulltime competition in 2023 had been hard after a nearly seven-year break, but had been worth it, Strickland said. She qualified as part of a 14-strong team from New Zealand that competed in the Koop Cup in Canada earlier this year. The event was combined with the aesthetic group gymnastics world cup — "that brought an extra energy to it" — where she placed seventh out of 27 gymnasts in ribbon. The squad then headed to the Manitoba provincial championships, where she placed second overall, and she backed that up with fourth overall at an event in Christchurch. "It feels really, really good that despite the fact that I'm now 26, I'm still improving and getting back better," she said. "From my first year in 2023, placing last most of the time, I'm now up there and can actually hold my own." Last month, she also won two trophies for being the level 10 Otago champion and earning the highest score in Otago at the Otago rhythmic gymnastics championships. The sport helped Strickland fuel her creative side. She picked her own music and designed and decorated her own leotards, which her coach, Keita McComb, then sewed. Strickland, who trains with Astra Gymnastics at the Caledonian, loved working with McComb, who is also the chairwoman of the national rhythmic technical committee. Strickland described her as a pillar of the rhythmic community. If there was one thing that drew her back to the floor, it was her love of the sport. "I'm so incredibly passionate about rhythmic gymnastics," Strickland said. "It just makes me really happy and I never wanted to stop competing — it was just circumstances." Strickland — the oldest active competitive rhythmic gymnast in New Zealand — is giving back to the sport through the national technical committee, which introduced a restructure of the level system recently. She is also the chairwoman of the national athletes council, which was created in the past few years to provide an avenue for athletes to provide feedback and inform decisions. "Something I also feel personally passionate about is helping gymnasts stay in the sport for longer. "I mean, it is hard when you're an adult ... for me, it's just so worth it." Giving back had always been important to Strickland, to help change the landscape of the sport. Through the years she had seen a lot of good in the sport, but there had been some "not so good" as well, and making sure young gymnasts were protected and had a positive experience was crucial. "Historically, there is a reason why gymnasts retire so young and that's because their minds and bodies can't continue, but we've seen a really big shift from that over the past few years. "Gymnastics New Zealand has done a really good job at helping move away from how things used to be. "Making sure that gymnasts aren't pushed to do extreme moves, or aren't being coached in a way that is unhealthy for them mentally, makes an insanely big difference in people being able to continue." Strickland, who is also a judge, loved the people in the sport and counted herself lucky to train at various clubs throughout the country when she was on the road for work.
RNZ News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Midday Report Essentials for Thursday 10th July 2025
In today's episode, Local government politicians still have questions about how future climate adaptation will be funded; The Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand's Covid-19 response is in the middle of another day of public hearings, this time focusing on vaccines; Consumer New Zealand says penalties under our fair trading laws may need to be tougher to deter bad behaviour; The New Zealand Nurses Organisation says urgent funding is needed keep a South Auckland hospice from cutting services. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
Scoop
04-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Nursing Students Ready To Walk
Concerning interim findings of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) 2025 Student Survey has found most students will go overseas if they can't get jobs in New Zealand. This comes as Te Whatu Ora refused to address NZNO claims around its obligation to employ new graduates in collective agreement negotiations. The survey was completed by 1246 nursing students, and NZNO National Student Unit Co-chair Bianca Grimmer said the results were crystal clear - "hire us or we will leave". "The survey shows 61.86% of students were considering seeking a nursing job overseas if they were unable to get a new graduate job in Aotearoa New Zealand. This increased to 73% of Māori respondents. "This is a significant potential loss of our domestic nursing workforce." Finances remained a significant issue for all students and was linked to high levels of stress by 80.39% of respondents, Bianca Grimmer said. "An increased fear of not getting work is exacerbated by most students' money concerns issues, many of whom depend on funding from student loans for their survival. "We have a health system in crisis. At a time when we desperately need more homegrown nurses, the Government and nursing schools really need to do more to encourage students to stay in their studies and come out well and ready to nurse." At least 35.61% of respondents said they did not work in paid employment and 61.58% of respondents had to significantly reduce their paid work hours during placement, she said. "Paying all students the minimum or living wage while on clinical placements would make a massive difference to graduate numbers. Nursing students need assistance while they study." NZNO Te Rūnanga Tauira chair Davis Ferguson said Māori and Pacific students are essential, and better cultural support in nurse training would result in a health system that better meets the needs of Māori and Pacific peoples. "The lack of appropriate cultural support in nursing studies is an issue the Government and training providers need to urgently address." The full findings of the survey will be made available on the NZNO website later this year.
RNZ News
03-07-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Nurses union dismisses latest pay offer as 'massive backward step'
Indications are the union will vote to strike. Photo: RNZ The nurses union says Health New Zealand's latest pay offer is a "massive backward step" for the health system and patients, and there are "very strong indications" members will want to strike. New Zealand Nurses Organisation chief executive Paul Goulter says Health NZ has "given very little, if anything" and "it really throws into doubt the sincerity of the government in trying to settle this". "We have had clear indication the government is involved - and is increasingly involved - in directing the course of these negotiations. "It's not bargaining. It's just being told what you're going to get and that's it." Health New Zealand told RNZ it was committed to reaching an agreement, but it was also "operating within tight financial constraints". Negotiations began last October, but the union said bargaining had stalled over "big ticket items" centred on public safety and a nationwide strike in December saw a complete withdrawal of labour at every Te Whatu Ora facility. Early last month, a series of stopwork meetings took place to discuss next steps, after the previous offer was turned down. Goulter said the key issue was staffing and making sure there was enough staff to "ensure patient safety", which was "foremost in the minds of our members" during negotiations. "While, obviously, there's a wage element, we're trying to do our best to ensure we get staffing that's appropriate to meet what patients need and we seem to have come up short on that." Health NZ acting chief executive Robyn Shearer said the agency was committed to reaching an agreement with nurses on the collective agreement, but specified it was operating within "tight financial constraints". In May, registered nurses were offered a pay increase of 1 percent in 2025 and 1 percent in 2026. This week's latest offer included a "higher 2025 pay increase of 2 percent", Shearer said, "meaning nurses will get a total 3 percent pay increase over two years". The statement also outlined an offer of two lump-sum payments of $325, which weren't included in the previous offer. Goulter said that wasn't, on the face of it, "better" and explained it was a "regression actually", because of the extended term. The previous offer set a term of two years from the expiry of the current collective agreement, while the latest offer adds three months to the term, effectively reducing the value of the wage increases. Goulter said the first priority was guarantees around staffing and the second was a wage increase that reflected the cost of living. "The government have come up short on this, on both those scores, and it needs to be fixed." He also pointed to the withdrawal of Māori issues the union thought were settled, such as a 'tikanga allowance' for nurses required to use tikanga in their daily work with Māori patients. That and the development of a 'Kaupapa Māori dispute resolution process', which Te Whatu Ora had previously agreed to support, had been removed from the latest offer, without an explanation. Goulter wouldn't speculate on why they had been removed, but said it was "widely known this government is trying to remove any references to addressing Māori health outcomes". "This is probably a very low-rent sort of action by the government to attack that. "Until Māori health outcomes are lifted, this government will stand condemned in the eyes of our members and among the public at large, I'm sure." RNZ requested an explanation from Health NZ about the removal of those elements from the offer. RNZ also approached Health Minister Simeon Brown, who said this offer was "stronger than most public-sector settlements, many of which have included no increase". He also noted the government was committed to "ensuring all New Zealanders are cared for on the basis of need and Health NZ is reflecting this principle in the offers it makes to employees". Overall, Goulter said analysis from union members indicated the new offer was worse than the previous one. "We're undergoing a wide survey at the moment and our members are really clear that this is taking us backwards, not forward." He said the next step was to finalise getting feedback from members, but he has "very strong indications" members wanted to move to action to change these circumstances. "They don't find the circumstances acceptable. At this stage, it looks likely we'll move to a strike ballot." The Health NZ statement said the overall offer meant a new graduate nurse on $75,773 would gain a total pay increase of $8337, or 11 percent, by the end of June 2026. Most registered nurses are on the highest step, with a current salary of $106,739, and under the new offer, their pay will increase by $3224 to $109,963 in the same period. The average salary for both senior and registered nurses, including overtime and other allowances, was $125,662. It also stated the "landscape" for the nursing workforce had changed significantly in recent years, with turnover decreasing from 14 percent in December 2022 to 8.6 percent in December 2024. Health NZ indicated the offer expired at the end of July, if it wasn't ratified before then. "We encourage the union to take this offer to their membership for a vote." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
