Recent DHB pay talks settled by other unions indicate NZNO nurses are unlikely to receive a generous pay offer during these negotiations.
The junior doctor MECA offer is currently out for ratification after lengthy negotiations with the New Zealand Resident Doctors' Association following the expiry of their last MECA in September 2013.
That DHBs/RDA MECA offer is for a 13 month contract backdated to January this year and includes a lump sum payment of $750–$950 on ratification, a 1 per cent pay increase for registrars and house offices effective from 8 December 2014 and a 0.75 per cent pay increase on 30 November 2015.
Last year nearly 12,000 Public Service Association members working at DHBs, including mental health and public health nurse PSA members, voted to reject a 0.7 per cent pay offer (or 1.5% over an approximately two-year contract).
The strike action was called off in August and PSA nurses voted to accept a one-year contract with a one-off lump sum payment of 1 per cent of their base salary and a 0.7 per cent pay rise on 30 April 2015 on their eight-step pay scale. The 12-month contract expires on 30 April.
The last DHBs/NZNO MECA was settled in March 2012, with NZNO nurses agreeing to a 4.5 per cent pay deal stretched over three years. The deal started with a 2 per cent pay increase backdated from 1 March 2012, followed by a 1.5 per cent increase on 1 March 2013 and a 1 per cent increase on 1 March 2014.
