Every few years we district health board (DHB) members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation negotiate a renewed multiemployer collective agreement (MECA) with our employers. We have recently received our first offer from the DHBs in the current round of negotiations and it is way beyond disappointing. Every day I rush from patient to patient to paperwork, worried I've forgotten something important or that I've left a poor person suffering. Nurses are qualified professionals, who have an incredible amount of responsibility, and we have proven our value repeatedly throughout the pandemic response. I am bewildered as to why, in the middle of a nurse staffing crisis, this offer fails to enhance nursing or make the profession attractive in any way.

Source: New Zealand Herald May 07, 2021 03:00 UTC