Ashburton and other hospitals throughout New Zealand may be subject to strike action from nurses in December.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation union is considering an eight-hour strike on December 3, and rolling strike action December 9 to 20.
The union is conducting a ballot about the strike action among members, a leaked memo to union members, obtained by The Ashburton Courier, shows.
NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter reminds members in the memo to vote in the strike ballot, that closes tomorrow at noon.
The union is legally required to ballot members on any proposed strike action.
‘‘In recent bargaining Te Whatu Ora presented a very concerning position,’’ Goulter said.
‘‘The strike ballot is an important way to put pressure on Te Whatu Ora to move on our key bargaining issues.’’
He asked members to vote on two proposed strikes.
‘‘The first proposed strike is a complete withdrawal of labour at every place in New Zealand where the employer provides health care or hospital care services. The timing of this strike would be the same in every district and will begin on December 3 at 11am and end on December 3 at 7pm.
‘‘We are also proposing rolling strike action between December 9 to 20 that will be on different days, depending on the district. In every district the strike will begin at 1pm and end at 5pm.’’
The strike ballot follows nurses being alarmed at Te Whatu Ora’s indication it will pause calculations for the Care Capacity Demand Management programme.
The CCDM calculates the number of nurses needed based on how sick patients are.
Nurses were also insulted by Te Whatu Ora’s indication the would be offered a half per cent wage increase in the first year and one per cent in the second year.
