Pay restrictions after year from hell a bitter pill for Kiwi nurses
14 May, 2021 05:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Registered Nurse Mafile o Talakai said the possibility of no pay rise for three years makes nurses who worked through the pandemic feel undervalued. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Registered Nurse Mafile o Talakai said the possibility of no pay rise for three years makes nurses who worked through the pandemic feel undervalued. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Remember lockdown? Baking sourdough, quality time with family and pulling the dog around the block five times a day.
For registered nurse Mafile o Talakai the experience was vastly different.
For her, the go-hard and go-early restrictions meant long hours, pressure injuries from PPE gear, and staying isolated from her vulnerable parents.
Northland news in brief: City vehicle crash; and Northland public nurses to strike
14 May, 2021 05:00 PM
5 minutes to read
This crash on Hatea Dr, Whangārei, yesterday didn t hold up traffic after a vehicle left the road and hit a street light before hitting some trees. Photo / Michael Cunningham.
This crash on Hatea Dr, Whangārei, yesterday didn t hold up traffic after a vehicle left the road and hit a street light before hitting some trees. Photo / Michael Cunningham.
Northern Advocate
A person received moderate injuries after a van left the road and hit a street light in
Whangārei, before coming to rest among some trees. Police attended a crash involving a van which hit powerlines on Hatea Drive at 7.56am yesterday. One person received moderate injuries and Northpower was notified. Police were only at the scene for a short period and traffic was hardly disrupted
The DHB offer on pay is about a tenth of what members have asked for, says Wait.
A nurse practitioner who spoke to Newshub at the time, under condition of anonymity, said it felt like an April Fool s joke . What we ve been offered is lower than the rate of inflation. Decade upon decade it s actually a pay cut if you look at it realistically. The price of stuff goes up but our salaries don t.
The Government s May 5 wage freeze announcement added insult to injury, says Wait.
He says nurses are absolutely furious at the announcement which would effectively freeze their wages for three years as most have already progressed to the last step of their pay scale.
Opinion: It s been a weird week for the union movement.
The government s calls for a pay freeze have caused outrage.
Photo: 123RF
The government slapped a pay freeze on public servants, waited for applause, received a backlash from workers it was wildly unprepared for, then backed down as fast as it takes to say there never was a pay freeze .
Amidst all that sound and fury, the government followed up years of promising to introduce Fair Pay Agreements by once again promising to introduce Fair Pay Agreements. This time, however, it looks like it will actually happen. These major industrial reforms will level the playing field and end the race to the bottom in poverty-pay industries, and the labour movement is celebrating.
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