Transcript Slide 1

How and why we
will win Fair Pay
for Nurses
Laila Harre
NZNO Conference 25 September 2003
are mad as hell
We want
a working environment
that allows nurses, midwives and care assistants
to practice at a high level of quality
and to be remunerated according to their level of
•skill
•effort
•responsibility
recognising the nature of their working conditions
Nurses compared with MRTs, March 2003
60000
50000
40000
Radiographer
30000
Nurse (South Island)
Nurse (Auckland)
20000
10000
0
Entry
Fifth year
Top of scale
The Enemy
Hourly rate ($)
Hourly pay rates by gender, public sector 1989-2000
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
Year
1996
1997
1998
Male
1999
2000
Female
“The gender pay gap is larger
– and has been decreasing
more slowly – among more
highly paid employees than
among the lower paid”
Sylvia Dixon, Dept of Labour 2001
Comparing nurses to teachers and
police – March 2003
70,000
60,000
50,000
Secondary School Teacher
40,000
Police
Nurse (South Island)
30,000
Nurse (Auckland)
20,000
10,000
0
Entry
Fifth year
Top of scale
Nurses compared with junior doctors, March 03
90,000
80,000
70,000
60,000
Junior Doctor
50,000
Nurse (South Island)
40,000
Nurse (Auckland)
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
Entry
Fifth year
Top of scale
International comparison of nurses' pay adjusted
to $NZ, 40 hours and purchasing power parity
70000
60000
50000
Canada
40000
UK
30000
NZ (South Island)
20000
NZ (Auckland)
10000
0
New Graduate
5th Year
Top of scale
Research
Resources
The Herald
(above) and the
Dom-Post on
Suffrage Day
2003
Determination
We also have
a law that enables us to negotiate MECAs
A government that says it is committed to
pay equity, at least for public sector workers
A state sector pay equity taskforce due to
report in March 2004 with a five year plan to
address the public sector gender pay gap
friends and allies throughout the trade
union and women’s movements and
community organisations
Where we are at
Over the last three years NZNO has
successfully put together 4 Multi Employer
Collective Agreements
2002 Conference resolution to develop a
national remuneration strategy to underpin the
current bargaining round
Development of a national strategy,
underpinned by the research
The strategy aimed to
reduce the differentiation between regions in
the current round and achieve common expiry
dates for all agreements in mid-2004
to develop a fair pay settlement for all public
sector members through a working party with
government,
to apply this settlement in the 2004
bargaining round after the expiry of the
Auckland MECA
Strategy endorsed at NZNO’s first national
round of stopwork meetings since 1991
Meanwhile
Government establishes Pay and
Employment Equity Taskforce
NZNO meets Ministers to brief them on our
proposal
The Taskforce recommends NZNO and the
Government begin discussions on the nature
and extent of the pay gap affecting nurses
Government decides not to proceed with
this approach, while not ruling it out
Since then also
Northern Districts MECA settled, on similar
rates to Auckland
CDHB agreement settled, bringing base
rates to Auckland levels
South Island MECA settled, bringing the
base rate for most members (top step RN) to
Auckland levels and substantially narrowing
the base rate gap for others
All these agreements can expire at the
initiative of NZNO in a timeframe that would
allow NZNO to initiate national bargaining
when the Auckland MECA expires mid-2004
“unquantified fiscal risk”
NZNO on Suffrage Day 2003
•Public displays outside the Whangarei and Kaitaia
Post Offices
•Collecting signatures in Takapuna, Auckland City
and Papatoetoe and Pukekohe
•Launch in the Gisborne hospital cafeteria
•Stopwork meetings at Rotorua ,Taupo,
Whakatane, Tauranga and Waikato Hopsitals
•Talkback radio in Thames featuring NZNO and
local MPs
•Fair pay relay throughout the Lower North Island
•Candle lighting in Christchurch’s historic Nurses
Chapel at Christchurch Hospital
•Stop work meetings throughout the South Island
Our bargaining choice should
Maximise our collective strength
Create unity and not division
Be democratic and participatory
Married women as a proportion of all women
working 20+ hours a week
1945
1956
1971
18%
32%
50%
Mothers in paid work in 1996
76% of the mothers of teenagers
30% of mothers with a baby under 1
50% of mothers of pre-schoolers.
“Were there none
who were
discontented with
what they have, the
world would never
reach anything
better.”
Florence Nightingale