Leadership blog, by Anne Daniels

Kerri Nuku ended her recent Leadership blog on pay equity with an important whakataukī, Ki te kotahi te kākaho ka whati, ki te kāpuia, e kore e whati – When we stand alone we are vulnerable, but together we are unbreakable.

We have some loud voices standing strong, but only from some of the many members we have. We need to all raise our voice because this fight isn’t just for DHB Nurses, or even all nurses. This fight is for all women everywhere in New Zealand and throughout the world. History tells us why.

The fight for fair pay for women started in the 1890’s for New Zealand women principally by the newly formed National Council of Women. In 1957 the Council for Equal Pay and Opportunities (CEPOP) was formed by a coalition of women and men’s organisations and unions and later in 1986, the Coalition for Equal Value, Equal Pay (CEVEP) was set up by women’s groups and unions with the Nurses Association prominent among them. After decades of organising, the Labour Government introduced the Employment Equity Act in 1990 to “redress past and present discrimination experienced by women in the labour market.” But this historic legislation was quickly repealed by the new National Government the same year.

This is the political context when, as a young nurse dissatisfied with pay and conditions, I became one of the few NZNO delegates in 1990. Since then, I’ve been in many campaigns for the same thing, fair pay and conditions. Each time we’ve failed because we were too trusting. In 2010, we received a small pay jump but within a few years the buying power of this rise had fallen away. Successive governments continue to fail women, reflecting the ingrained patriarchal attitudes of both men and women in power.

And here we are one hundred and twenty-two years later still fighting for justice. Ironically, our current Labour Health Minister has a union background and our female Prime Minister stands on the shoulders of women who fought for equality. We expect them to stand with us, not against us to right the wrong of the perpetual injustice of women being underpaid, while also enduring substantially poorer work conditions than men receive.

We can’t wait for others to do right for women. We must take our fight to the streets and join with all women, everywhere in New Zealand, as our fight is their fight. We put this government and any successive government on notice. We will fight without ceasing until we win, as together, we are unbreakable.

References:

Equal pay in New Zealand from 1988 to present (cevep.org.nz)

Kerri Nuku, Kaiwhakahaere
New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO)

This is a truly significant time. Despite the difficulties we’re currently facing, the rates offered to DHB nursing staff under the recent proposed Nursing Pay Equity settlement should be something to celebrate because it’s a formal recognition that we have been undervalued. Of course, it doesn’t come close to really addressing the power imbalance we face in a sexist society, but material compensation would be better than just words.

It’s taken an incredibly long time even to get to this point, and I think we owe it to ourselves and each other to be staunch and see this process through. It’s crucial for us to challenge with curiosity and hold fast to what we know our value to be. We can’t settle for anything that will undermine the future of nursing.

The fact that members are not satisfied with what’s been put in front of them is a positive thing because it has opened a conversation and presented us with possibilities. We’ve come across an obstacle, and now we’re given an opportunity to reflect, regather and renew our direction.

For me, the critical part of this, and the opportunity that we’re now afforded, is to put a line in the sand and say that all workers across all sectors need to be recognised. What we do today is important for our colleagues across the sectors.

We can truly enact kotahitanga and solidarity. We can be forward thinking, and above all, we can embrace a broader sense of justice than what the Government and employers want us to have. They want us to fight amongst each other for funding, to think it’s either DHB or Māori providers or Aged Caregivers. They also benefit if we think that Te Tiriti and equity are at odds with union principles. That kind of thinking creates division. It’s not the kind of thinking that wins the fight for justice.

We can and must fight for all, and in doing so we have to acknowledge that non-DHB campaigns haven’t had the same support at NZNO.

Just as nurses are trained to triage patients based on their acuity, everybody should get the care they need and deserve. Why shouldn’t we apply the same to our own organisation? Why can’t we also focus our resources on those who most deeply experience inequity?

Again, we don’t have to choose between, but our NZNO’s relative silence for those outside DHBs has to be addressed and together with the strength of 55,000 we can expand Pay Equity to all sectors. 

Ki te kotahi te kākaho ka whati, ki te kāpuia, e kore e whati – When we stand alone we are vulnerable, but together we are unbreakable.

Anne Daniels, President
New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO)

NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku and I have repeatedly stated that DHBs and communities in Aotearoa New Zealand are beyond crisis when it comes to having enough appropriately trained and experienced nurses to do the job well. A crisis can be defined as a “time of intense difficulty or danger”. It’s also when important decisions must be made, and we are at that time.

Why (do we have to make a decision)?

Older nurses are retiring in droves; others are changing careers; too few are entering nursing study; and internationally qualified nurses (IQNs) are facing immigration barriers. This all makes the work pile higher on those left in the profession.

Nurses are working overtime and are repeatedly asked to give up valuable days off. As research affirms, exhausted nurses make mistakes and patients suffer as a result. So, despite this pressure, we’re hearing more and more that nurses are starting to say no. They’re saying, “I don’t know how much more we I can take. If things keep going the way they are, we’re going to lose patients and, as a nurse, that’s just too much to bear.”

National and international research shows nurses are feeling increasingly embattled. It’s not just the workloads or pay; it’s facing the “challenge of knowing what care patients need but being unable to provide it due to constraints beyond the nurses control.”[1]

On top of this are inequities across the health sector experienced by Māori and others in Aotearoa New Zealand. Nurses are leaving or reducing their hours of work, not responding to texts asking them to work on their time off, and in some countries, despite covid, they are striking.

What (are we going to decide) and when?

Our calls for action have been ignored for decades and we can’t wait for Government or employers any longer. Even though it will take years to overcome the complex issues we face, we must start now. It will take collaboration from the community, academia, all levels of health care and Government to work in real partnership with NZNO (as the largest representative of health workers) to develop creative solutions.

NZNO’s leadership and Board of Directors are working on an overarching campaign to ensure all nurses everywhere, work together to win the political and resourcing commitments needed to address the nursing shortage crisis permanently.

Last word…

There is an upside. We always need to know what we’re trying to achieve when we decide to stand up and fight the good fight. Power is generated from the bottom up. At 55,000 strong, we have the power in our hands to shape the future of nursing. We are all in this together and we will win.

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[1]     Dean, W., Talbot, S., & Dean, A. (2019). Reframing clinician distress: Moral injury not burnout. Federal Practitioner, 36(9): 400–402. Reframing Clinician Distress: Moral Injury Not Burnout – PMC (nih.gov)