The battle for pay equity in nursing took a u-turn today as Health Minister Andrew Little said the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) had backed out of the agreed process.
The minister is dismayed at the decision on what he says is the most significant pay equity settlement in history.
In December, a settlement for pay equity was achieved. That, however, was not widely welcomed with the New Zealand Nurses organisation this week initiating a legal review.
It was recommended that the settlement be ratified by putting a vote to the nurses on the settlement but Little says that this will now not happen.
“My expectation is the parties to this pay equity agreement stand by what they agreed to. If there are misunderstandings it's my expectation that they will move quickly to resolve it,” he said
“It is very unusual for a union to relitigate terms of settlement that they have already signed up to. I just find that very unusual.”
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation has not responded to interview requests. However, NZNO Kaiarahi Māori Kerri Nuku says there are unsettled issues.
“I think nurses have every right to be upset and angry because they are feeling they've been misled
“There is the issue of back pay, which is significantly impacting on nursing,” she said.
The settlement included an extra $580 million to the nurses' payroll to tackle the gender pay gap but Minister Little says government funds have limits.
“In relation to this pay deal there is no more funding to put into it. It's why I hope the parties quickly meet, resolve the misunderstandings and get the pay levels to nurses that they have long waited for,” he said.
Little says the back pay the nurses now want would add hundreds of millions of dollars on top of the agreement already made.