The Militant - April 28, 2003 -- New Zealand nurses go on strike

Vol. 67/No. 14 April 28, 2003

New Zealand nurses
go on strike
(back page)

BY FELICITY COGGAN
AUCKLAND, New Zealand--Seventy members of the Nurses Organisation and the Service and Food Workers Union struck and picketed Glenburn Rest Home and Hospital-Homecare in Auckland April 7. Their strike coincided with other day-long strikes at hospitals in the towns of Thames and Whakatane also run by Glenburn’s owners, Harbour- side Group Holdings. It followed a previous 24-hour strike and picket March 6.

Harbourside has refused the workers’ claim for a two percent pay rise, with an added one percent for some, and an allowance for working weekends, backdated for the 12 months negotiations have been underway, according to Nurses Organisation organiser Jane Kostanich.

The workers, who last won a pay rise after a strike four years ago, point to how low their wages are compared to the high fees charged for patients at the hospital. One picketer, a psychiatric nurse with 32 years experience, explained that most workers start at around $9 per hour (NZ$1.00=US$0.55c). Her wage after 12 years at Glenburn has topped out at $12 an hour.

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