Media release                                                            31 May 2018

NZNO takes the revised DHB offer to its members


NZNO’s DHB MECA negotiating team is today providing its assessment of the revised district health board multi-employer collective agreement (DHB MECA) offer to its 29,500 DHB members.

Industrial Services Manager Cee Payne explains that NZNO has been in negotiations over the last twelve months and continues to comply with its bargaining policy and process by presenting a substantially improved DHB offer to its DHB members.

“The Independent Panel process enabled NZNO to advance the stories of nurses working in an underfunded public health system, which has created a serious nursing and midwifery staffing crisis which has placed a vital and valuable workforce under unacceptable pressure,” she said.

“The revised DHB offer was forged out of the solidarity of NZNO members’ determination to achieve safe staffing levels and in turn, to see patient care improved in all of New Zealand’s public hospitals.

“The NZNO DHB MECA negotiating team did its utmost to ensure member voices were heard and equally nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants have been hugely visible - by holding rallies around the country with a clear message that #HealthNeedsNursing.

”From Tuesday 5 June through to Friday 15 June members will vote on whether to accept the offer or not and now need the space and time to carefully consider it,” Cee Payne said.

The details of the offer and NZNO DHB MECA negotiations team bulletin can be read at: www.nzno.org.nz and then clicking on the DHB MECA image in the centre.

ENDS.