Thousands of nurses, midwives, and healthcare assistants will take strike action from 17 to 30 November to protest what they describe as unsafe staffing levels and inadequate pay.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) says Health NZ Te Whatu Ora has been “covering up chronic short-staffing” by redeploying staff to plug gaps, instead of fixing systemic workforce shortages. The strike will see workers refuse redeployment, additional hours, and roster changes, actions the union says are intended to protect patient safety rather than disrupt care.
After more than 30 days of stalled negotiations, nurses say their warnings about patient risk are being ignored.
The government’s latest offer includes a 2 percent pay rise next June and another 1 percent in 2026, which unions say falls below inflation and does not address unsafe staffing. Health NZ has yet to receive an official strike notice and maintains that collective bargaining remains the best path to resolution. Nurses argue the government is “out of touch,” with many warning that current staff shortages delay care and endanger lives.
Looks like some of them aren’t going hungry anyway
🤣👍
Maybe they shouldn’t have gotten rid of those who refused the jab, then they wouldn’t be short staffed.
And why can’t recently qualified kiwi nurses get jobs here hmmmm…..
Now the ones who were jabbed off sick all the time with long covid???
I am most concerned about staffing levels at hospitals. Several of my fellow church parishioners work at Auckland City Hospital, and they are grossly overworked. If the Coalition Government freezes pay, and uses the money to increase staffing levels, I would be quite happy.
Waiting for surgery? Sorry… the re-shuffle will take months to reschedule.
Understaffing at hospitals has been ongoing for ages now. It transcends red/blue government cycles. It’s an obvious engineered collapse of the system.
Yep so don’t vote for either.
Staffing levels will be fine though during those 2 weeks of strikes!
Lets see National and Labour down the road this election.