NZNO a step closer to national bargaining.

DISTRICT HEALTH Board (DHB) workplace convenors have unanimously endorsed a proposal to go back to delegates in each DHB to seek sign off for a ballot to initiate bargaining for a national multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) covering nurses, midwives and health care assistants in the 21 DHBs.

The historic decision is the culmination of a bargaining strategy which has seen MECAs in Northern Districts, the South Island, and the Lower North Island and an agreement in Canterbury that, over their full terms, close or come close to closing the base pay gap between these different regions and the Auckland MECA. All the agreements have early expiry clauses which will allow NZNO to initiate national bargaining before the Auckland MECA expires on June 30.

Organising services manager Laila Harre said NZNO members had bargained themselves into a better position to seek a substantial and fair pay rise than at any time in the last 13 years. "Add to that a Government that supports pay equity and has a budget surplus that can pay for it, and there couldn't be a better time to close the value gap for nurses, midwives and health care assistants in the public sector."

With these achievements in mind, delegate convenors from the 21 DHBs met in Welling ton for a day-long meeting last month to discuss the next step in the campaign to win fair pay; to work through the issues around national bargaining; and to decide on the process if members vote in favour of initiating a national MECA.

Other decisions included the make-up of a national bargaining team and the work needed to develop claims. These decisions will all be discussed by delegates and members before a national ballot.