Gap remains between hospice claim and employers' offer.

All nurses and other health workers should look for opportunities to support the pay parity campaign for hospice staff, according to NZNO advocate, Mark Lennox.

Negotiations for a national hospice multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) got underway last month. NZNO's negotiating team (pictured at right) presented the employer team, representing the 14 hospices taking part in the negotiations, with its pay parity claim and a draft collective agreement. This was to ensure the best use of time and to ensure the best possible progress was made during the two days of negotiations, Lennox said.

The seven-member employer team said it wanted to offer hospice nurses and other staff "competitive pay to their valued staff" but there was still a big gap between that and NZNO's claim for pay parity with district health board (DHB) nurses. "It's going to take an extra push and all nurses need to support hospice staff in the campaign, if we are going to succeed. We'll be calling on all nurses and members of the public to support the campaign to ensure we can recruit and retain skilled professionals to deliver a quality palliative care service to the public," Lennox said.

There had been slow but steady progress during the negotiations and the NZNO team remained committed to pay parity. The pay parity claim includes pay rates, penal rates, on call, call back, annual leave, professional development leave and other core conditions.

Another two days of negotiations were scheduled for this month and another two days in October. The team will report back to members through bulletins and communication with NZNO delegates at the 14 hospice sites. The hospices in the MECA negotiations are Arohanui, Palmerston North; Eastern Bay of Plenty Community; Marlborough Community; Mary Potter, Wellington; Te Omanga, Lower Hutt, Nelson; South Canterbury; Taranaki; Waikato; Waipuna, Western Bay of Plenty; North Shore; Otago Community; and Southland.