A Kiwi nurse is disappointed with the breakdown in pay negotiations and warns nurses may leave New Zealand unless conditions improve.
It comes amid escalating tensions between the nursing workforce and the Government, which have failed to reach a pay agreement.
The offer currently on the table is an annualised increase of roughly 1.4 percent - less than a tenth of the 17 percent bump the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) has been pushing for in their multi-employer collective agreement negotiations, which began last year.
Registered nurse Helen Kemp told The AM Show the workforce is burnt out and forced to work in unsafe environments.
"A typical day on the frontline for a lot of nurses is running short-staffed, working in unsafe conditions, being overloaded with patient loads and the hospitals throughout the country are running at critical nursing shortages."
She said the pressure has seen many nurses move overseas or switch carers.
"They are absolutely exhausted, frustrated, disillusioned with the latest pay offer and on top of the April Fools Day offer... then on the eve of International Nurses Day having the Government come in with a potential three-year wage freeze, it's just topped the whole thing."
Last Friday, nurses voted to take industrial action, with an eight-hour strike scheduled for June 9 in protest of the offer - which one nurse practitioner called "an April Fool's joke" under the condition of anonymity.
Kemp said working conditions are wonderful in Australia and if the Government wants to retain the workforce, it needs to do more.
"I worked there [Australia] for a year and I was able to work one day less a week, so four days a week, have three day weekends, I had a salary sacrificing of $10,000 which was tax-free and wonderful working conditions where you were guaranteed you would get your breaks on time… so the conditions are way better."
She said she isn't here to have a crack at the Government because they have done a wonderful job in trying to rectify "a neglected health system", but nurses can't be forgotten.
"They've got to look after the carers."
NZNO industrial services manager Glenda Alexander agreed, saying the latest offer isn't good enough.
"In the last bargaining, we agreed to have a pay equity exercise which would have analysed what the right rate of pay would be for nurses in this country. Of course, that was supposed to come into effect in 2019 [but] we are still working on it.
"In the meantime, years have gone by… and the offer currently on the table doesn't even match inflation."
She said nurses went to work every day during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect the country and deserve adequate compensation.
On Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told The AM Show she isn't in a position to reward everyone who rolled up their sleeves during the pandemic.
She remained tight-lipped about the ongoing talks, saying she wouldn't be engaging in any back-and-forth regarding the finer details of the negotiations.
"You know that I'm not going to get into too much of a discussion [about] a negotiation involving DHBs and our nursing workforce, because they are in the middle of negotiations," she said.
"One thing I will say - and this hasn't been talked about as much, perhaps - at the same time, we need to keep making progress on pay equity for our nursing workforce. It was something we were talking about last time we were at the table. I'd like to see us move more quickly on those talks."
