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Nearly half of nurses believed to oppose Thursday's 24-hour strike

July 10, 2018

NZNO members voted online and the majority did not want to take the offer.

Nearly half of nurses' union members are believed to be against a strike on Thursday, after a narrow vote on walking off the job for 24 hours.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation says potentially over 30,000 NZNO members would be involved in the 24 hour strike, scheduled to start at 7am on Thursday, after nurses rejected the District Health Boards' latest pay offer.

Industrial action is nothing new in New Zealand, with a history of unions dating back more than 100 years.

1 NEWS understands that the nurses vote was wafer thin and almost a 50/50 split which means nearly half of nurses don’t want to strike on Thursday. 

The union has refused to reveal the numbers publicly. 

The rejection of the offer comes after the NZNO recommended the DHBs' offer be accepted by nurses, describing the latest proposal as providing equal values to both nurses and midwifes and saying it would tackle staffing shortages from July 1.

Nurses voted online to reject the offer.

The nurses have been in a pay dispute with DHBs after rejecting a $500 million pay package last month.

Urgent 11th-hour negotiations are underway to try avoid the strike, which will affect hospitals and other services around the country. 

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