New Zealand Nurses Organisation announced today that it’s district health board nurse, midwife and health care assistant members had voted to ratify the revised deal after roundly rejecting the initial offer in May.
The new salary scale will see the new graduate registered nurse salary rise from $47.529 in 2014 to $49,449 in July 2016. The base salary for a nurse at the top of the five step automatic pay scale will rise from $64,163 to $66,755 in July next year.
The senior nurse salary scale will rise in 2016 from $70,871 for grade one up to a $114,967 for the top tier grade 8 nurse.
The new multi-employment collective agreement (MECA) negotiated was for a two per cent salary increase (backdated to 6 July) and a further two per cent increase in July next year. The term of the contract is shorter than the rejected initial pay offer – running from August 24 until the end of July 2017 – compared with the earlier nearly three year contract.
NZNO industrial adviser Lesley Harry said it had also made progress on a commitment to safe staffing through DHBs “reaffirming” their commitment to implementing the Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM) system including a timely response to CCDM data showing the need to adjust staffing levels.
“There is no doubt in my mind that we could not have achieved this offer if our 20,000 members working in DHBs hadn’t been so unified and vocal,” said Harry.
The initial unpopular offer had been for a five per cent pay offer stretched out over more than three years with a one per cent increase this year (backdated to March), a two per cent increase in May 2016 and another two per cent pay rise in July 2017.
