Union members were asking for pay parity with other hospitals, in line with the cost of living, and backpay for the past 18 months at that rate.
“In that time, the cost of living has exploded. So what may have been accepted by the members 18 months ago is just not near what we’re all trying to live and work through now.”
Nurses did not go on strike easily, she said, but they had reached an impasse.
“We’ve met 11 times and had two days of mediation, and we had a day of mediation yesterday that failed, and we just have not been listened to.”
She said they were willing to cancel the strike if the mediation had gone well, but their employer had ensured the strike went ahead by “showing up to mediation and ... it was like a tick box exercise”, she said.
Evolution Healthcare acting chief executive Matthew Clarke said Evolution had offered a median pay rise of 15 per cent and a guarantee it would be revisited should public hospitals raise wages during the term of the agreement.
He said they had done “everything we could to prevent a strike”, but about 80 procedures had been rescheduled.
More than two-thirds of elective surgeries were performed in private facilities, Clarke said, with Evolution’s hospitals doing more than 50,000 a year.
“With the significant wait lists for elective surgeries across the country, we are doing all we can to minimise the disruption to our patients and their booked surgeries.”
- RNZ
