A Hawke’s Bay contingent of about 20 Hato Hone St John ambulance staff will participate in widespread national strike action on Saturday amid concerns over their pay and overall funding for the service.
New Zealand Ambulance Association (NZAA) secretary Mark Quin said local working conditions had “not been great”, leaving staff “tired, broken and with low morale”.
“[This] has created the situation where staff have not wanted to do recalls on their days off, leading to ambulances being dropped because of sick calls and nobody available to man them, which then puts increasing pressure on the crews that are on shift and delays in responding to patients,” he said.
The NZAA and First Union both said the strike came after Hato Hone St John failed to offer a pay raise, and the Government could not confirm any funding increase for the service.
In a statement, the NZAA wrote that the St John offer to workers last Thursday fell well short of what the unions considered acceptable.