Nurses get interim wage adjustment

Press, 25 October 1985, Page 4

Nurses get interim wage adjustment

PA Auckland Nurses would get a 13.5 per cent interim general wage adjustment on November 10, the “New Zealand Herald” reported last evening. It was 5.5 per cent more than the interim adjustment of 8 per cent to be paid to all public servants on that date, it said. The settlement could also cover psychiatric and psychopaedic nurses, who were represented by the Public Service Association. Neither the Nurses’ Association nor the Public Service Association would confirm the figure last evening or comment on the settlement.

.The deputy executive director of the Nurses’ Association, Marion Blackbourn, said a joint statement would be issued this morning by the association, the P.S.A. and the Health Services Personnel Commission.

The 13.5 per cent figure

was agreed to in Wellington during a compulsory conference at which an industrial mediator, Mr Maurice Teen, presided. A P.S.A. spokesman said yesterday that the settlement had to be discussed with members. He said that, if accepted, it would not be a pay rise but a loan to see nurses through until their claims were settled. It would not be prejudicial to their claims. News of the wage adjustment was sent by telegram yesterday to Nurses’ Association regional offices. By the afternoon, notices announcing the rise had been posted in most Auckland hospitals. It is believed that talks will be held next week when negotiations will begin on the nurses’ substantive pay claims. In June the Nurses’ Association lodged a claim for increases of between 16 and 42 per cent.