Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation
The first two Pay Equity claims under the Coalition Government’s new stricter regime have been filed today by Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO).
NZNO today filed the claims on behalf of its Hospice and Plunket members, covering about 750 and 800 people respectively. Hospice and Plunket were the most advanced of NZNO’s 12 previous claims which were scrapped overnight with the Government’s changes on 6 May.
NZNO spokesperson and Hospice nurse Fiona McDougal says almost 95% of NZNO nurses and support staff working for Hospice are female.
“Our work involves supporting, counselling, and caring for people of all ages needing end-of-life and holistic palliative care in hospice, their homes and the community. We also support their whānau.
“It is skilled and difficult work that not everyone is cut out for. Our work is a crucial part of a caring society. Yet it is work that has long been considered that of women. For that reason, we continue to be underpaid,” Fiona McDougal says.
NZNO delegate and Plunket nurse Hannah Cook says it is estimated that around 98% of Plunket nurses are female.
“About 80% of all newborn babies in Aotearoa New Zealand are seen by skilled and experienced Whānau Āwhina Plunket nurses like me.
“Yet because care work has been historically and systemically devalued in homes and communities, the work we do has been undervalued and underpaid.
“For my colleagues and I, today is an important day. Our mahi is important and we deserve to be paid at the same level for our skills and experience as those in a comparable male dominated occupation,” Hannah Cook says.
NZNO Pay Equity spokesperson Glenda Alexander says NZNO will now meet with each employer separately to progress the respective claims as set out under the new law.
“The employers will now be required to confirm the claims have met the merit and other thresholds required under the new regime. A process to assess the claims will then be set up.
“We know all parties to the two claims are keen to see a positive outcome for these nurses,” Glenda Alexander says.
