Nurses settle for more pay

Press, 4 April 1989, Page 5

Nurses settle for more pay

PA Masterton Nurses’ negotiators spent 28 hours until 5 a.m. yesterday thrashing out an award package settled at up to 4 per cent. The New Zealand Nurses Association industrial officer, John Robson, said the wage increase ranged from about 1.5 to 4 per cent for the country’s 22,000 nurses which was in line with wage settlements for other State-sector employees. It confirmed the three-tier wage adjustments put to all health sector workers on February 17 in the wake of the February 14 24-hour national strike, a vote for which had successfully averted planned 48-hour industrial action. At the beginning of the wage round nurses, like all public health sector workers, had been offered a nil wage increase. A 3 per cent increase will be paid on allowances which in November hospital employers were trying to have scrapped. A redundancy agreement was also negotiated much in line with other State sector agreements but tailored to fit the need of the health sector, Mr Robson said. But the union conceded to having chief and principal senior nurses taken out of the award agreement. Lower graded enrolled nurses and hospital aides receiving up to $24,000, will gain about a 4 per cent wage increase ($l2 a week), staff nurses earning between $24,001 and $34,000 about a 3 per cent increase ($13.50 a week), and senior nurses earning over $34,001 a 1.5 per cent increase ($6 a week).