Nurses Midwives Care assistants Consider MECA

Over 4000 nurses ,midwives and care assistants will consider progress on their MECA negotiations this week

"NZNO members in 7 DHBs in the Lower North Island will attend meetings this week to consider progress on the important negotiations to improve their multi-employer collective agreement", said Lyn Olsthoorn NZNO advocate for these negotiations.

There have been 7 days of talks and discussion with employers to identify the best way to ensure that these union members achieve the same rates of pay now paid in the rest of the country. It is also important that the Lower North Island nurses can join with their colleagues in the Fair Pay campaign which is expected to mean national negotiations to address pay equity in the middle of the year. Nursing staff are currently paid less than the rest of NZ's public sector and want to achieve recognition for their professional expertise. So far in the Lower North Island negotiations there has been one offer tabled which does not close the pay gap.

At the meetings this week members will be asked to give a mandate to the negotiating team to decide if the revised offer from the employers which is expected in the new year is satisfactory and to determine what action if any will be necessary to pursue their claims.

Lyn Olsthoorn said the negotiating teams have scheduled further talks with the employers for the end of January. These talks would be in the presence of a Department of Labour Mediator. She was optimistic that the negotiations would be resolved and a positive outcome achieved.

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