It follows the challenging DHB NZNO negotiations that saw resolute DHB nurses unite to take the first national strike in nearly 30 years over pay and safe staffing concerns – and ended with 64% voting in favour of a fifth DHBs’ offer following the signing of the safe staffing Accord and NZNO’s recommendation that further industrial action would not lead to extra funding for the deal.

The hui is being held on August 19 in Auckland by the newly-formed NZNO Members Action Group to discuss where-to-next for the NZNO members who expressed frustration on social media about the union’s responsiveness to members during and after the DHB MECA negotiation process.

Asked what lessons he believed NZNO could learn from the 2017-18 negotiation round NZNO chief executive Memo Musa said the union would be conducting its usual evaluation and review of the MECA negotiation process to look at what worked well and what could be improved on.  “Particularly in regard to the growing climate of social media dialogue that took off during the negotiations”. And he said it would be engaging with members on how they would work together on planning the next round of negotiations – including the pay equity process – taking into account the review results.

Musa added that members have a wide range of views and the negative comments on social media had to be viewed with the context of the 64 per cent who had voted in favour of the final offer.

Action group spokesperson Danni Wilkinson said the group had about 400 members and  was a ‘rank and file’ member response to unite NZNO members who had spoken out about their concerns on a number of the nursing social media platforms.

Wilkinson founded the Facebook page Nightingales Fight for Fair Pay in late May as a spin-off from the ‘Nurse Florence’-founded New Zealand, please hear our voice page.  The page has 2800 followers compared to Nurse Florence’s 45,000 plus, and the longer-established NZNO Members & Supporters page (8200 members) and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation page (20,200 followers).

“I think if we don’t keep the momentum that we have gathered over the last six months – if we don’t keep that going we will go back to that apathetic – ‘the union doesn’t give a (toss) so why should I’ – attitude with people refusing to vote and just not paying attention to what is going on,” said Wilkinson.

“And we will sit on that for another ten years and flare up again.  And I don’t think that’s healthy. I think we’re better to create the change and maintain our healthy union along the way rather than clash and fight every ten years or so – which is exhausting.”

“I guess we are at the point where there have been a lot of people talking – and it’s time to put up or shut up – if you are just going to sit in the background and whinge, whine and complain but not actually participate in creating the change that you want, then stop your whingeing.”

Musa said alongside the negotiations review NZNO was now turning to delegate and member education and communication about what the new DHB/NZNO MECA contains.  “And show we will work together on the implementation and planning for the next round of negotiations including the pay equity process, taking into account outcomes from the review.”

He said NZNO was supportive of members being able to speak openly about the deal on social media. “However, what is disappointing and unacceptable on social media are the personal attacks on the negotiating team and process based on insufficient knowledge, evidence and facts about the technical aspects of the negotiation process.”

Musa said some of the comments had been unpleasant and unprofessional and directed at people “doing their utmost to deliver the absolute best for members” and who had to “personally dig deep” to continue in an environment where they suffered continual criticism from some members. He said the relationship between senior staff and many grassroots members remained strong.  “NZNO gained the best possible MECA offer and we are now receiving many, many emails of thanks to the senior staff which had been heartening.”

Wilkinson said the action group was particularly keen to see change in how the upcoming pay equity negotiations were carried out and to have assurance that the negotiations would be backed by quality research.  “The other concern that we have is that NZNO said repeatedly that the members are the union but there is definitely a strong feeling that that is not the case.” Wilkinson said she was aware of many members who felt that NZNO had prioritised the union’s partnership with DHBs over representing many members’ wish to push for a better offer or consider further industrial action.

But she said if members are wanting change from the union in return they also had to be ready to participate themselves.  “They don’t have to be the workplace delegate – they can just be the person who helps the workplace delegate, collects signatures on petitions or offers other support so they are active participants. We are hoping if we can encourage 30,000 members to take a bit more interest then things will change from within for sure.”

Wilkinson said talking on social media had been great – while acknowledging there had also been some misinformation and confusion – but more action than social media posts and comments were needed to create the change that members had talked about.

“If our group finds that we don’t have enough support – and actually members are happy to just go back to work and tick along – then we (Action Group leaders) will keep looking at doing things through official channels –  because we do believe there is a strong need for change and we will help guide that.” The group is also inviting people from other centres to join the  Auckland meeting via teleconference.

Online debate over the offer on the main social media pages has been vigorous with likely ‘no’ voters the most prominent. The two ‘Nurse Florence’ founders of the New Zealand, please hear our voice social media movement have gone public that one them is voting ‘no’ and one of them voting ‘yes’ and together have made a call for nurses to stay united and positive whatever the outcome of this week’s ballot.

Online voting began on Tuesday and closes on 5pm on Monday July 9 and in the interim the 20 district health boards’  contingency planning and the filling of rosters for NZNO member LPS (life preserving services) responders for the July 12 strike continues.

Last night NZNO hosted a live Q&A session with Industrial Services Manager Cee Payne to answer questions from members.  Below is a brief summary of the session.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q  What happens if ‘no’ vote?

Continue preparation for 24 hour strike on July 12. Negotiation team remain open to improving deal if opportunity arises. But highly likely strike would go ahead.

NZNO believes that striking will not lead to extra money for MECA offer as Health Minister had made that clear. If no new deal option arises from strike, a ballot on further strike action may follow.

Q Where is extra value for members in DHBs’ 4^thoffer? Why have NZNO recommended it?

July 5 strike called off to allow ballot on what NZNO believed was improved offer – particularly setting date for pay equity settlement.  Negotiating team had strong signals that only additional funding would come via pay equity fund – not via MECA funding.

No new money in MECA offer but money has been “shifted” and extra steps for RN/RM basic pay scale delayed to make offer more “equitable”.

But Payne says pay equity settlement date means  “definitely going to be new money” in 18 months (December 2019) when implementing a pay equity payout due to begin. Funded from Government’s pay equity funding not from MECA deal funding.

What percentage increase pay equity settlement not known until after negotiations. Payne says NZNO committed to doing timely negotiations and getting an offer out for ratification in 2019.

Q  Why not money available for pay equity now?

Payne says NZNO and DHBs have to work within Government budget framework and money had been allocated for a number of pay equity negotiations in 2019.  “We need to get on and get our share of it”.  Nursing is one of the largest female occupation groups so implementing pay equity would be staged.

Q  What pay equity comparators are being considered?

Moved on from teachers and police.  Research is now being done looking at accountants, senior accountants, engineers and senior engineers. Plus other occupational groupings being looked at. Previous care and support worker pay equity negotiations were based on ‘basket’ of 20 private and public section occupations and something similar considered for NZNO claim.

Q  What guarantees that $38M allocation from July 1 for additional staff will be used to relieve immediate workload issues?

Workplace committees to work with DHBs to highlight areas with immediate staffing needs.  The funding for immediate relief is not to replace the additional staffing identified after doing the safe staffing CCDM calculations. DHBs will still need to boost full-time equivalent staff as part of commitment to fully implement CCDM by 2021.

Q What happens on August 1 when MECA will have been expired for over a year?

Under Employment Relations Act once a collective agreement is 12 months on from expiry date technically people are transferred to individual contract with same terms and conditions as MECA.  Payne says no indication that employers intend to take advantage of that and so members should not be alarmed by the technical transition.

Q New Step 7 start date is a day after proposed MECA expires?  Is it guaranteed?

Payne says though outside of the MECA’s term the new step is legally enshrined into the MECA’s terms of agreement so will go ahead. Progress to new steps are automatic for staff unless there has been formal questions raised about their work performance.

I screamed! Absolute excitement. Nurses are finally standing up for each other. Health professionals are working together to create positive change for our health system.
It is not unreasonable to want the best for your colleagues and patients.

Were you confident of the outcome of the vote?

Yes, absolutely. The number of messages I was receiving about how nurses were feeling – while the voting was going on over the two weeks – made me strongly believe it (the DHBs’ third offer)was going to be rejected.

At my place of work, everyone I knew was talking about the voting, and they said they’d voted ‘no’.

It was a ‘no’ from me because I believe we are worth more than what we are currently paid, and, more importantly, that we deserve to be kept safe at work, and that the current offer from the DHBs does not seem to be doing anything to meaningfully address this.

I had hoped that nurses would look at the offer and how it would affect others besides themselves. At the end of the day the outcome of the negotiations affects all of us.

Why do you think nurses strongly rejected the deal?

Nurses rejected the deal we think for multiple reasons. Safe staffing and good remuneration should not be mutually exclusive. It is true that better pay will attract new nurses and, more importantly, retain nurses with the experience and ability to the do the job of caring that New Zealanders deserve.

Many nurses are living pay-to-pay so survival is also a valid reason for declining the offer. We think the offer being rejected also highlighted the current unity of health care professionals. Although some thought the offer would be enough for them individually, many voted ‘no’ because it wasn’t a good or even okay deal for their colleagues – the deal, for instance, might look good for RNs (if they do overtime every weekend and lots of nights), but it offers very little for ENs and HCAs.

Safe staffing is more important. Safe staffing SHOULD NOT, be included in negotiations. Safe staffing is an employees’ right. We should not have to bargain for it.

I know too many people who have sustained career-ending or career-limiting injuries, particularly brain damage, for assaults.

People on the New Zealand, Please Hear Our Voice Facebook page are paying tribute to the work of yourself and fellow founder Nurse North about in helping unite nurses   the current dispute and giving nurses a place to share their thoughts, frustrations and stories about their profession.  How do you feel about your role?

It still doesn’t feel real to me. I appreciate all the thanks I receive. I strongly believe however that if it wasn’t for all the members we wouldn’t have gotten to where we are now. This hasn’t been ‘all me’. This has been because everyone has come together from all areas of health.

If our members on #hearourvoice didn’t work together, engage on the page and write their experiences to us we wouldn’t be here today.

I was full of fear at the beginning that we would lose motivation and momentum. Instead this movement has continued to grow and I hope at the end of this every nurse will look back and see how incredible they are for helping us push for change. Together we have achieved so much already.

The original page has had some spin-off pages?

We helped created a private, closed group for health professionals only, to share with each other away from the public eye and media. Nurses should have a way to react out to others in a private place. Whether it is because of bullying or asking for advice on another topic.

The other site, Nightingales Fight for Fair Pay, started because some people wanted a more refined look for the media, where as I felt it was more authentic to allow people to express themselves without being edited.

The experiences nurses have shared on the page are sometimes shocking, their feelings are intense and raw and they deserve the opportunity to speak freely to New Zealand. I wish @NZNightingales all the best on their endeavours.

My fight will remain on the ‘New Zealand, please hear our voice’ page. It takes a lot of energy to maintain this page.

What do you think the main priority should be to help reach a settlement to the current impasse?  Safe staffing or pay?

There are several reasons health professionals may be feeling that safe staffing is more important than pay. I feel both are important.

We shouldn’t have to negotiate for safe staffing in our MECA (multi-employer collective agreement) and many are feeling our staffing concerns are not being addressed appropriately or in a timely manner. Should this not be addressed immediately? Can the government not see the crisis we are all in? Or is this complete ignorance on their part…?

Safe staffing needs to be addressed now and it shouldn’t be included in our pay negotiations.

Staffing effects patients. Safe staffing will save lives.

In New Zealand there is a culture in nursing such that if you point out a problem, YOU become a problem.

Whether it’s unsafe staffing, bullying, not being trained adequately, not having enough resources or something else. Any nurse who attempts to improve this by speaking up is putting their career on the line.

No nurse wants to ever have to document that their working conditions are unsafe for patients as the nurse is then blamed for this, and nothing done to fix the underlying problem. Any nurse that raises a red flag may be be reprimanded.

The only possible outcome from this culture is nurses not reporting unsafe events. The #hear our voices’ page is popular as it is addressing what members feel. People still feel they need to speak anonymously because of that culture – even when it’s the right thing to do.

How will it feel personally to strike?

Strike action is a scary thought.

I think about if I will be able to afford to pay my bills and feed my family that pay period.
Will people die if I strike? And will my patients be cared for when I walk off? Is my employer going to punish me somehow for striking?

Striking is really scary for many like myself; it’s not an that action health professionals will be taking lightly.

What can we do now? We are not being listened to or heard by our DHBs or Government. We are given excuses. We have been told that we will not get security guards in acute adult psych wards, and that there are ‘good reasons’ for this, but we haven’t been told what these reasons are.

We get told there wasn’t the money even for the last pay offer that was made, even though the DHBs seem to have found an extra quarter of a billion dollars fairly easily and quickly.

My only comment to health professionals is don’t give up. Keep working together. Keep having a voice. Keep being heard.

You can’t be ignored forever. Change will come, keep fighting. You are worth more than gold.

Soon after the page founded the focus was on the petition and May 12 national marches? You then planned to regroup – so where do you see the future of the page beyond the eventual settling of this dispute?

We did regroup. We had a few slip-ups but have managed to pull things back around to focus on what is important. It’s important to be united, it’s important to speak up and it’s important to use our unions. We pay them to work for us and better our conditions.

My plan is to end violence against healthcare workers. It should be a law like it is in other countries. In the media we are continuously reading about assault on nurses. How much longer can this continue?

The group has enabled many nurses who were feeling isolated within their workplace experiences to connect with a much-needed support system and made them realise they are not facing certain issues alone.

Whatever the future holds for the group, we want to continue being a place that nurses can turn to for support, and that unites them to push for change in our hospitals.

________________________________________________________________________

BACKGROUND

‘Nurse South’, an enrolled nurse working in acute mental health and ‘Nurse North’, a new graduate nurse, founded the New Zealand, Please Hear Our Voice Facebook page on March 4 as a forum for Kiwi nurses to share stories that gave the public insight into nursing today – both the negatives and positives.

Filling a media silence gap  – while the NZNO waited for confirmation that its district health board members had rejected the 20 DHBs’ pay offer – the Facebook group’s members quickly snowballed to reach 45,000 nurse and non-nurse members within about a month.

Inspired by the successful ‘Dear David’ midwives social media campaign, the Nurse Florence campaign has been seeking public backing for the growing groundswell of nurses’ – both union and non-union members – expressing their struggles and frustration with the impact of current staffing levels and pay on their ability to provide safe patient care across the wider health sector and not just DHBs.

The founders chose to be anonymous, and for nurses to have the option of posting their stories anonymously, to allow nurses to both respect the privacy of their patients and to be able to speak frankly about working conditions.

Brought together by the ‘Nurse Florence’ #hearourvoices social media movement, nurses donned paper caps, hired red capes and created banners and placards and put on their special t-shirts. The mood was often festive, but the placard messages were sobering and direct: “These cuts won’t heal”, “Patient safety can’t wait” and “Fighting for life”.

Hundreds of Christchurch nurses and supporters rallied near Christchurch Hospital before marching on a fine autumnal day along past the Botanical Gardens and down Worcester Street to the quake-damaged Cathedral Square while calling for safer staffing and fair pay.

On arriving, leader Cheryl Hanham thanked the ‘Nurse Florences’ for helping nurses find their voice again and read the message that the two founders of the movement wrote for delivering at the 15 marches and rallies being held today.

The message said the marches were a response to nurses working too long in unsafe, understaffed environments that put them and their patients at risk. It went on to say that for too long nurses have been silent as they risked breaking patient confidentiality if they spoke out about understaffed wards and being assaulted by patients. “The current health system with its chronic understaffing forces nurses to view patients as a checklist,” the pair said. They said nurses, the public and patients had shared many “heart-breaking to gut-wrenching” stories with them, leading to the march, where nurses and the public were ready to stand united for the future of health care and their patients.

The Nurse Florences expressed frustration that the movement’s attempts to contact the Government, district health boards leaders and politicians had gone unheeded. They said the current stalled negotiations between the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and DHBs should not be used as an excuse as the issues were bigger than just the district health boards, with nurses in other sectors also facing similar issues of understaffing and inadequate pay.

The pair called on MPs to think about what kind of nurse they wanted to look after their families: under-resourced and burnt out or well-supported with manageable patient loads?

Following the message, the marchers were addressed briefly by Labour’s Christchurch East MP Poto Williams, who said she was there to hear the nurses’ challenges. She said that while health is an absolute priority for the Government, it now needed to prove this with the first steps towards it being the May 17 Budget. “We want to honour you in this Budget,” she told nurses, adding that she heard that the call was about more than pay and was also about nurses working double shifts, being called back and having safety concerns.

The Christchurch rally was also read several nurse-written poems and a message from a nurses’ parents. A brother of one of the organisers told the gathering that he was marching for the right of nurses to be safe from abuse and assault and his dismay at seeing his sister Lani Collins return to the work environment after suffering an injury requiring surgery.

Collins and her organising team supporters Erica Donovan and Jacqui Bennetts were delighted with the turnout on a day that started threatening rain but ended up fine. Bennetts, a hospital nurse since 2005, said over nine years in the same ward she has watched her patients become older and more unwell, with more co-morbidities so they need more care. “But we’re being asked to do more with less.” She said her “beef” was not with the district health board, which had the same core purpose and goal of providing good care, but with those who decide the funding levels for the health system.

Meanwhile the Nurse Florence petition addressing safe staffing issues, which is to be delivered to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, was close to 33,000 signatures early on the evening of May 12.

For too long, nurses have had to work in unsafe environments. For too long, the wards that nurses work in have been understaffed, putting themselves and patients at risk. For too long, nurses have had to put up with these working conditions and understaffing.

Our calls for change have been ignored.

The Nurse Florence initiative was created to allow the New Zealand public to read what is happening in our workplaces, as described by nurses.

We were told that because we are nurses we have a code of confidentiality to maintain and that this code prevents us from saying what happens at work. While maintaining this code of conduct to protect patient privacy, must we be silent about understaffed wards? Put at risk of violence, assaulted and having this minimised by our hospitals?

If we are silent about them, how can we expect there to be any change? What will motivate our leaders to make that change?

Where can New Zealand nurses go when we are shrugged off? When we are expected to suck it up or told we have to negotiate to have safer staffing levels and working conditions?

Who is looking out for the nurses of New Zealand?

Do you know what we have heard since launching this initiative? We have heard nurses say that high patient loads cause a gap – between giving the patients the care they were trained to give – versus the care they actually receive.

How can we hold the hand of the dying, spend time comforting those facing new diagnoses and reassure their loved ones that they are in the best hands when in some shifts we are only able to do the bare minimum?

The current health system with its chronic understaffing forces nurses to view patients as a checklist.

We have heard nurses speak about the violence they are continuously exposed to. Nurses who have been seriously assaulted, off work for months, and nurses who haven’t been able to return to work because of the injuries they have sustained from an unwell patient. Is this an acceptable environment for nurses and patients to be in?

How many assaults need to happen before nurses can be heard?

We are afraid someone will have to die before you take this seriously. Nurses are not punching bags.

Does the public understand that nurses do not have protective gear, they do not have security guards nearby, and that nurses are expected to manage dangerous situations with no or little support?

We have heard many different stories, from heart-breaking to gut-wrenching. We have had stories from patients and family members about how nurses have been too busy to be able to provide essential aspects of care, leaving them disempowered, vulnerable and angry.

Nurses are hurting too. Nurses are fed-up with waiting for something to change. Enough is enough. We are not oblivious to our patients’ needs and their suffering, we see the patients that we haven’t been able to spend time with each shift and we weep for you.

We have heard stories from nurses who are unable to sleep at night, knowing they are not able to provide the compassionate care they want to give.

Nurses are suffering from stress, anxiety, compassion fatigue, depression and burnout as a result of having to work this way and under these conditions.

We hear you, nurses. New Zealand hears you. The government hears you. The DHBs hear you.

The difference is that when we heard you, we wanted to act on it. We are taking a stand.

Everyone who has come today hears you: the nurses, the healthcare assistants, and the public all hear you. We are all standing together united for the future, our health care and for our patients.

We do not want to work understaffed and under threat of violence. We want to be supported; we want better staff-to-patient ratios. We want to be able to work in wards where we can care equally for all our patients and ensure they are getting the best care we can offer.

So, how about you, Jacinda Ardern, can you hear us? Are you watching us, David Clark? How about you, Julie Anne Genter, have you been listening?

To all the DHB CEOS and general managers, are you listening today?

They do hear us! We know they have been watching this unfold and we know they are listening.

We have contacted them all. But we have been met with silence. We have had no response.

This seems to us a blatant refusal to acknowledge the situation, using bargaining with the nursing union being underway as an excuse not to comment.

The issues nurses face are bigger than the NZNO DHB MECA! Nurses are employed in many different areas outside the DHBs and face these same issues. DHB and non-DHB nurses alike are suffering and so are their patients and families.

Why are nurses expected to be silent? Why are management and the government silent?

Why are we made to feel if we do speak up about the workloads and injuries we face that there will be repercussions or disciplinary action? Nurses are afraid if they stand up and speak out they will be bullied, or that it could cost them their jobs.

Why do you think the ‘Nurse Florences’ are running this from behind an alias? Because of fear, fear of what happens if you do the right thing and speak up.

Did you hear the stories about families being left on wards scared and vulnerable, Jacinda? Do you care, David? What if that was your family? What if that was someone you cared about?

Did you hear about nurses being pushed beyond exhaustion? Called to come back to work without having a nine-hour break after a shift? Told by management they don’t have anyone else available? What is it going to take for you to hear us?

To every member of parliament – don’t forget that you and your family will at some point require the service of nurses, whether you use the public health system or private, whether someone in your family is in an aged care facility or having to be visited at home.

Think about the kind of nurse you want looking after your mother, father, sister, brother or children. Do you want to be cared for by overworked, understaffed, under-resourced, burnt out nurses who are only able to provide the bare minimum of care? Do you want your families to be cared for in wards where staff and patients are getting assaulted and abused?

Or do you want nurses who have manageable patient loads, are adequately staffed, and have time to provide comfort and care in wards that are safe?

We know which nurses we want to have caring for us. Now it’s your turn to decide, Jacinda…

Thank you New Zealand – HEAR OUR VOICE.

Authors: Nurse North (a new graduate nurse) and Nurse South (an enrolled nurse) are ‘Nurse Florence’ – the two anonymous founders of the New Zealand, please hear our voice Facebook page created in early March, which quickly gained 45,000 plus members and led to the May 12 International Nurses Day marches across the country.

Nurse Florence also sent their thanks to everyone who turned out to march and rally for safer staffing and working conditions, with a special thank you to the marches’ volunteer organisers.

The 15 marches and rallies to be held on International Nurses Day – celebrated on Florence Nightingale’s birthday each year – have grown out of the Nurse Florence #hearourvoice social media movement. The movement, launched on Facebook on March 4 by two nurses, has quickly grown to more than 45,000 members as it captured a groundswell of nurses frustrated at unsafe working conditions, short staffing and inadequate pay.

The Wellington march will be heading to Parliament to deliver a petition calling for safer staffing and better pay for nurses, which is currently sitting at 32,500 signatures. Nurse Florence founders ‘Nurse South’ and ‘Nurse North’ say that an MP is flying in to Wellington especially to meet marchers and receive the petition. They say invitations have been sent to a number of other MPs, including Health Minister Dr David Clark and PM Jacinda Ardern to raise awareness of the petition.

The pair say it is an incredibly busy time for the volunteer organisers of marches from Whangarei to Dunedin (see march list and details below) who have generously given their time. The nurse-led movement – which filled a media silence gap during the stalled district health boards and New Zealand Nurses Organisation pay negotiations – is not affiliated with any nursing organisation or union. “We would not have been able to make this (the International Nurses Day marches) a reality without all those amazing supporters standing beside us and we appreciate that more than they know,” says the pair.

The movement’s Facebook page is full of posts showing nurses creating banners, sharing logos for t-shirts and patterns for nursing caps as the march draws closer, bringing together the thousands of nurses and their supporters who have been sharing stories and supporting each other through the page over the past two months.

Fight for change

This week ‘Nurse Florence’ posted some excerpts from some of the stories shared to demonstrate “why it was so vital that we take a stand and fight for change”:

“I almost feel numb now. I pick up body parts and feel nothing. I can’t sleep properly. Fifteen years of nursing and I really don’t want to be here.”

“A nursing friend and I, whenever we catch up, often plot our escape from nursing. Truth is, I’ve been plotting my escape since I witnessed the destruction of a senior nurse in the first few months as a new grad.”

”When will we stand up for ourselves and make a change, not for others, but for ourselves? We spend all of our time looking after others – who is there to look after us?”

The two ‘Nurse Florences’ say as NZNO members they were personally just as interested as other members to hear the recommendations arising from the Independent Panel set up to try and resolve the pay impasse with the 20 DHBs. “It is an exciting time ahead for nursing and it will be great to see what is yet to come.”

But meanwhile their focus is on Saturday’s marches. They say, as it worked out, only one of them is able to attend their local march, while the other will be working “but there in spirit and following the events very closely on social media”. They say there would also be a “little bit of the Florences” at every march. “Listen out for the Florence speech that will be read out on our behalf by speakers at different events.”

After the marches they are planning to continue celebrating by organising pictures and videos from around the country to share with others who are unable to be there on the day.

SATURDAY MAY 12  International Nurses Day

‘Nurse Florence’ #hearourvoice marches and rallies

Wellington 12 noon, meet at Waitangi Park (on the waterfront) to march to Parliament

Whangarei 12 noon, meet at Old Countdown carpark (corner of Kensington Ave and Kamo Road) ready to march

Auckland 12 noon, meet at Auckland Domain gates (closest to hospital main entrance) ready to march

Tauranga 12 noon, meet at 120 The Strand (at stage), be ready to march at 12 sharp

Hamilton 11.30am, meet at Steele Park to march to Garden Place

Hastings (Hawkes Bay) 12 noon, meet at the fountain, Hastings Centre to march to Hawke’s Bay Memorial Hospital

Gisborne 11.30am, meet at Old Railway Station ready to march

Rotorua 12 noon, meet at Village Green (opposite QE Health) ready to march

New Plymouth 12 noon, meet Robe St (near clocktower) to march to Puke Ariki

Whanganui 12 noon, meet by the ‘ball’ at the river to march up Victoria Avenue to Majestic Square

Palmerston North 12 noon, meet at The Square

Nelson 12 noon, meeting at corner of Trafalgar St & Halifax St (next to City Council) to march up Trafalgar St

Christchurch 11am, meet at corner of Hagley & Riccarton Aves to march to Cathedral Square

Greymouth 12 noon, meet Dixon Park to march to Town Square and back

Dunedin 12.30pm, meet for rally in The Octagon

Check out  here for more march and rally information

I’m 11-years-old. Huddled under a table. Crying. Confused. Uncertain. My little brother and sister are with me. They have toys and I’m supposed to watch them while the grown-ups talk.

I can see feet in sneakers with black tights on. They face forward, towards the grown-ups for a long time, and then they come towards us.

I see an upside-down watch on a chest as a hand comes towards me with tissues. “It’s okay to hide,” a voice says. “But do you wanna come talk to Mum instead?” the voice asks. “She knows you are here, she knows you love her.” The voice affirms this so clearly.

The warmth this voice gives me just lifts me up. I can’t describe her hair, her face, her size. But I can still hear that voice.

When they ‘turned off’ Mum later that week I could still hear that voice. Quietly and gently letting me know someone was there. With me. With Mum.

Then I remember waking up from a stupid night out at 19 years old and that voice telling me ‘it was time to choose a path’. I enrolled at university that day.

I know I heard that voice when I woke up from an emergency Caesarean gone very wrong when I was 27 years old. It was telling me I needed to come hug my baby. It was reminding me that I have people to love who need to hear my voice.

I dreamed again last night that she was telling me go well. It’s my last day at an NGO today. Next week I join a DHB-based team of nurses. I hope I am that nameless, faceless voice for others for many years to come.

Thank you to that nurse.

I hope you’re still doing that amazing work with your lovely voice.

xoxo

This was first published on the New Zealand, please hear our voice Facebook page – a nurse-founded page publishing stories from anonymous and named nurses with the aim of informing the public and building support during the current pay claim campaign.

‘Nurse South’, an enrolled nurse working in acute mental health and ‘Nurse North’, a new graduate nurse, founded the New Zealand, Please Hear Our Voice Facebook page on March 4 as a forum for Kiwi nurses to share stories that gave the public insight into nursing today – both the negatives and positives.

Filling a media silence gap  – while the New Zealand Nurses Organisation waited for confirmation that its district health board members had rejected the 20 DHBs pay offer  – the Facebook group’s members quickly snowballed to reach 45,000 nurse and non-nurse members.  Inspired by the successful ‘Dear David’ midwives social media campaign the Nurse Florence campaign has been seeking public backing for the growing groundswell of nurses’ – both union and non-union members – expressing their struggles and frustration with the impact of current staffing levels and pay on their ability to provide safe patient care across the wider health sector and not just DHBs.

The founders chose to be anonymous – and for nurses to have the option of posting their stories anonymously – to allow nurses to both respect the privacy of their patients and to be able to speak frankly about working conditions.

Out of the page has grown a petition – calling for safer working conditions and better pay – that now has 28,000 signatures.  A plan for a march to deliver the petition to parliament on May 12 (International Nurses Day which marks Florence Nightingale’s birthday) has now grown into plans for 16 marches nationwide.

The marches movement began before NZNO on March 26 announced that DHB members had rejected the DHBs deal and launched its own #HealthNeedsNursing campaign – including national rallies currently underway – and a probable strike ballot and strike if the pay impasse cannot  be resolved by the independent panel process.

Nurse Florence said members of the group reached out last month wanting to set up marches in their area so the idea of national marches just caught on “and we ran with it”.  “We have just been the forum for it, the members in the group have been the driving force behind the marches and have taken responsibility for organising the details for their areas,” said Nurse Florence. “It’s been a great way for everyone to get involved and play a part in the fight nurses are currently facing.”

The pair re-iterated that the group is not affiliated with any union and the marches were a response to work place struggles that all nurses were facing regardless of their union affiliations.  They said they had some communication with NZNO and the feedback they  had received from some within NZNO had been very supportive of Nurse Florence and the marches planned for May 12.

“Similarly, we are supportive of the unions activities and as members we want to see their initiatives succeed,” said the pair. “Both campaigns have very similar goals and are fighting to bring to light how undervalued nurses have been in NZ for a while now, with the hopes of making positive changes in the industry. As a result from the campaigns, nurses voices are being heard and with being heard comes changes.”

Whirlwind time

Nurse South said being one half of Nurse Florence has been a “whirlwind of emotions”.

“You really feel the pressure when you have 45,000 people counting on you to help them be heard and get the attention of the public,” she said. “It makes me feel extremely proud to be behind this with the other Florence, who is still a ‘stranger’ on the other side of the country’. We have had laughter, anxiety and joy working together with this. We love being the creator of such a strong and powerful movement in New Zealand.”

“I have heard nurses at my work talking about ‘Florence’ and how much they love the page, how they feel united and no longer alone in their struggles. It has been really rewarding for us both.”

Nurse North agreed it had been a whirlwind of a journey being one of the Nurse Florence’s.

“The first few weeks were hectic, juggling work, family and the page was hard. There were moments where both of us ‘Florences’ were overwhelmed at what we had started. The movement has grown a life of its own and was pretty time consuming there for a while.”

“There has been some stressful times but when things have gotten tough the ‘Florences’ have banded together and reminded each other of the true purpose of the page and drawn strength from that.”

The pair said it now had some amazing volunteers who were helping moderate the page and they would be lost without them.  “Having those ladies working with us to manage the page has been a blessing and we Florence’s now have a good balance between work and the group.”

T-shirts to badges

The Florences had also launched  t-shirts to support the movement and marches and has now added kids t-shirts and hoodies in response to members interest.

“We had a nurse in Canterbury contact us wanting to do bumper stickers which she has said “blown up”, and she is now getting heaps of messages and orders a day now for the #hearourvoices bumper stickers.”

The pair said others are working on getting badges for supporters wanting to wear them at work.  It also had interest from members of the public and other health professionals – including ambulance officers, healthcare assistants and doctors – wanting badges to show their support for the #hearourvoices campaign and the nurses of New Zealand.  “We have been blown away”.

“We are in the process of putting together a book/eBook to remember this movement, stories and put a bit of the ‘Florences’ out into the world.”

Meanwhile the petition was still growing and it was hoping to match the number of signatures to the number of members before they march on parliament on May 12.

As a teenager full of hopes and dreams – seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses and believing in the careers’ office brochure – off she went. Studied hard, worked hard and played hard, until the hard reality came right up and slapped her in the face.

Now working in the unrelenting acute inpatients ward within mental health, she does her job ‘no matter what’.

Worked her shift, exhausted from the work load of seriously unwell patients, been spat on, punched, verbally abused, then asked to do a double shift because of staff shortages, she agrees ‘no matter what’.  She’s needed to help her colleague restrain a patient who’s become violent and dangerous, with diminished rights to be protected by her management, DHB and pathetic Government policy, she agrees ‘no matter what’.

Feeling unwell, overworked and stressed from the mental abuse and physical fatigue, she gets out of bed to go to her shift ‘no matter what’. She feels sad, second guesses her career choice but still finds herself drawn to helping her patients and standing beside her colleagues ‘no matter what’ the day will bring today or tomorrow!

What is happening to protecting the rights and lives of our nurses, their physical and mental wellbeing?

They put their lives on the line each day to saves lives of others ‘no matter what’.  Shouldn’t the New Zealand Government and DHBs protect our nurses, with more staffing, safer working conditions and give consideration to the rights of these nurses to be respected, happy in the job they love, and most importantly safe in their workplace ‘no matter what’.

DHB management stand together with your nurses, stop hiding it, brushing it under the carpet or pretending it doesn’t exist, make your voices heard too ‘no matter what’. It does exist and its real, our nurses are suffering, being hurt and subjected to appalling unhealthy and unsafe working conditions, with such high unrealistic expectations 24/7, but our nurses will still do it ‘no matter what’.

My challenge to you all is to do whatever it takes to make a stand, make change and make a difference in your nursing life, like you make a difference in our lives nursing ‘no matter what’. I will walk beside you, raise my voice and be heard with you all to bring back the sparkle in your eyes ‘no matter what’.

And please, all the decision and policy makers out there who are reading these extraordinary cries to be heard, make a difference and keep them safe ‘no matter what’.

This opinion from the Mother and Father of Nurse South was originally posted on the New Zealand, please hear our voice Facebook page that their daughter – an enrolled nurse working in an acute mental health ward – was one of the founders.  The group page – which now has 45,000 members –publishes stories from anonymous and named nurses with the aim of informing the public and building support during the current pay claim campaign.

As expected it was announced today by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation that frustrated nurses have voted to reject the 20 DHBs latest pay offer to the more than 27,000 nurses, midwives and health care assistants covered by the DHB NZNO collective agreement.

Industrial action could now be on the cards – but not for at least eight weeks as national NZNO delegates are not meeting to discuss bargaining strategies, including a possible series of 24 hour national strikes, until April 18.

Cee Payne, NZNO industrial services manager, said that NZNO remains open to meaningful discussion with the DHB employer negotiating team and industrial action would be a last resort.  She said the national rallies to be held in early April were to draw attention to nursing distress and to build public support if nurses are in situation they need to take industrial action.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield, a spokesperson for the 20 DHBs said nurses were “highly respected and essential members of the health team and we don’t want them thinking they have to take industrial action to be heard”.  He said obviously it was disappointed that NZNO members had rejected its latest pay offer but would be asking for an urgent meeting with NZNO to find a way forward.

NZNO, which has faced some criticism for feeling restrained from speaking out because of the Code of Good Faith clause, has now launched its own #HealthNeedsNursing campaign with a website (www.healthneedsnursing.nz), a “postcard to Ministers” campaign and a the series of national rallies at all major hospital centres to start April 9.

The Nurse Florence team, who launched the successful New Zealand, please hear our voice campaign, said the voting result “lit more fire in us all to carry on with this campaign with the goal of achieving, safe, healthy workplaces”. Nurse Florence also said it would be continuing with its own petition which has 20,000 plus signatures and planned marches on May 12 (International Nurses’ Day).

Payne said it endorsed the #pleasehearourvoice campaign’s role of allowing nurses share their experiences of their working lives.  “Our job is to conclude the DHB MECA bargaining – nobody else can do that.  So we are not worried (about Nurse Florence) we just hope to be able to mobilise all of the voices as we move forward.”

The offer – a 2 per cent pay rise per year over two years with the carrot of a possible pay equity settlement starting on July next year for the 27,000 nurses, midwives and health care assistants covered by the NZNO DHB collective agreement – was voted on during a series of ratification meetings over the past three weeks.  NZNO have indicated that any strike ballot was likely to involve online voting with a back-up postal voting option.

The pay offer would have brought new graduate nurses salary up to $51,447 in 2018 – more than the current opening salary for a primary or secondary school teacher but less than a new graduate police constable ($63,000) or a new graduate nurse in Queensland who receives $67,295.  (see full salary comparison table here).

Many nurses have taken to social media in recent months to voice their frustration with the DHBs’ offer including many of them showing readiness to take the first national strike action in nearly 30 years.