Source: Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi
Around 250 Nurse Maude support workers will walk off the job for the fourth time on Monday 14 September, after six weeks in which their employer has still not made a fair pay offer or moved on their position to cut sick leave.
On Friday the Employment Relations Authority granted formal facilitation after the PSA sought their intervention.
Care and support workers first took strike action on 31 July, then again on 10 August and 7 September. Each time, Nurse Maude has had the chance to come back with a better offer. Each time, it hasn’t.
“This is now the fourth strike. These workers want their employer to hear them, and to put forward a fair offer that doesn’t cut their sick leave.” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association, Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“Nurse Maude has had six weeks and three strikes to put something better on the table. Instead, they’re still trying to cut two sick leave days from support workers who are on the front line of community healthcare.
“Other publicly funded employers understand why these workers need that extra sick leave. Nurse Maude is the outlier.
The PSA filed for facilitation in the Employment Relations Authority, seeking progress the employer has so far refused to offer at the table and this has been granted.
“Workers don’t want to keep striking. They want a fair pay offer and the sick leave threat gone. Until Nurse Maude moves, they will keep taking action.”
Picket information for Monday 14 September:
- Nelson 8am – Bunnings car park, corner of Main Road and Saxton
- Christchurch 8.30am – Corner Papanui Road and Mansfield Ave, Merivale (near Nurse Maude’s Mansfield Ave premises)
- Hutt Valley 8.30am – Corner of High Street and Daysh Street, Avalon, Lower Hutt
- Mana, Porirua 8.30am – Corner of Titahi Bay Road and Hagley Street, Porirua (across from North City)
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.