Nurses deserve to be paid more

The Green Party said today nurses have historically been underpaid and undervalued and they deserve to be paid more.

Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson was commenting after it was announced nurses rejected the DHBs’ latest pay offer in their ballot.

“Nurses are totally professional, so for them to reject an offer of 9% over 15 months reveals how undervalued they feel after nine years squeezing by National,” Ms Davidson said. “We support their call for urgent mediation.”

“Every day it is becoming clearer the previous government patched its finances together by not just neglecting hospital buildings like Middlemore Hospital, but by underpaying staff who run them and tend to New Zealanders when they need it most.”

“Nurses need a significant pay catch-up, but this Government is going to find it challenging to recover nine years of neglect in a single year.”

“The nursing profession has been dominated by women and, like many women-dominated professions such as teachers, has been undervalued and underpaid in comparison to male-dominated professions. The DHBs have said the latest dispute is not about pay equity but we look forward to that being addressed as soon as practicable,” Ms Davidson said.

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