At a rally after the demonstration, union representatives said the strike of some 3,000 hospital employees is about more than pay. Long hours and low staffing levels are leading to a decline in patient care, they said. Jane O'Malley, national president of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, received a big cheer when she responded to the accusation that the union was using patients as pawns in an industrial dispute and putting lives at risk. "When the media talks about patient safety, who do they think they are talking to? We are very aware of patient safety. The risks to patients' lives did not start on Sunday" when the strike began.

Several union members have countered the attacks against their fight in the local newspapers. "Hospitals are typically understaffed, undersized, and caught up in outdated operational practice," wrote Roxanne McKerras, a clinical nurse specialist, in an opinion piece in the Press. "This dispute is about recognition for nurses' work. The expanding remuneration gap between nursing and other professions is increasing, and has been doing so for the last 10 years." Pay parity with other professions and with nurses and workers covered by other health boards is a question at the center of the dispute.

The walkout affected hospitals across the Canterbury region, in New Zealand's South Island. At the Christchurch Hospital, some 200 nurses and health-care workers joined a picket line after coming off midnight shift the morning of December 3. Many of the pickets sang a spirited rendition of the pop tune, "We're not going to take it any more."

Striker Donna Cherry said she has 20 years' experience on the job and earns the top pay rate of NZ$18 an hour (NZ$1 = US 42 cents), making overtime pay a necessity in meeting living expenses. In addition, she explained, with nodding approval from her co-workers, they are often denied the chance to take a meal break, and are not paid for that time. "I don't want us to give up, otherwise this heartache and pain is for nothing," Cherry said. "We have to keep going until we settle, otherwise the old philosophy will return that nurses capitulate too easily."

Two union contracts are involved in the dispute, both with the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB). The first covers about 1,100 health workers at Princess Margaret and Hillmorton hospitals. The workers are from a variety of occupations and are members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Public Service Association, National Union of Public Employees, or the Service and Food Workers Union. They also held a one-day strike in November. These unions are demanding a 6.5 percent pay raise over two years, and pay parity, annual leave, and career progression provisions.

The second contract covers 2,000 midwives and nurses. Both contracts expired within a few months of each other. A third contract, which expires this month, covers 700 clinical support services staff.

At the end of the two-day strike the Canterbury District Health Board still refused to budge from its offer of a 4 percent pay increase. The 2,000 nurses and midwives are demanding a 13 percent pay hike and point to a number of other issues that are important to resolve this dispute. Crying poverty, the CDHB claims NZ$7 billion is spent on health each year, 70 percent of which is on wages and remuneration. Accepting the nurses' claim would add $637 million to the country's health budget, they say.

Two resolutions were adopted at the rally. One calls for a round of stop-work meetings to discuss future industrial action. The other expresses a lack of confidence in the government to appropriately fund legitimate health sector wage claims.

Preparing for the strike, nurses picketed the 13th Commonwealth Health Ministers' Meeting at the Christchurch Convention Center November 29. Annette King, the minister of health in the Labour Alliance coalition government, refused to speak with the nurses there, claiming the dispute is between the workers and the health board, and that she would not intervene.

In a separate move, 91 radiation therapists struck in Auckland, Waikato, and Palmerston North December 4–5. The Association of Professional and Executive Salaried Therapists want raises of 20 percent to 25 percent to help stem the flow of staff overseas, which is causing serious treatment delays for New Zealand patients. They are planning further industrial action December 14–19.

Annalucia Vermunt is a member of the Meat Workers Union in Christchurch.  
 
 
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