Media release                                                               18 October 2016               

NZNO join global union movement

By joining Global Nurses United (GNU) NZNO is part of the growing international movement of nurses campaigning for healthcare and human rights, says chief executive Memo Musa.

GNU is dedicated to standing up for the rights of nurses, safe patient care, universal healthcare, and a clean and healthy environment.

“Nurses all over the world have many public health and professional employment matters in common. Joining GNU is a way for New Zealand nurses to bring their knowledge and support to global campaigns,” Memo Musa said.

“Climate change and health, equal public access to universal healthcare, safe staffing and safety of nurses are issues that are being tackled by many of the member countries and are issues for our nurses too.

“Underfunding of public health services is a universal issue for global health unions and a key contributor to negative health equity outcomes.

“GNU campaigns are targeted on many social issues such as poor quality housing and poverty, which affect good health outcomes. We are seeing this impact here and want to see public healthcare funding joined up to social policies focused on wellbeing,” Memo Musa said.

NZNO is running a campaign called Shout out for Health to gain increased public health funding.

GNU member countries are currently: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Greece, Honduras, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, United States, Uruguay.

 ENDS.