Primary healthcare workers campaign for better pay

Northland's New Zealand Nurses Organisation members had an elderly kuia backing their fight for pay parity at a May Day celebration in Whangarei.
The union is warning of a nursing crisis as primary healthcare workers flock to better pay with district health boards or overseas.
Raukura Robinson, 95, of Kamo trained as a nurse during World War Two and says her modern-day counterparts need a helping hand.
"Let me say it loud and clear: the Minister of Health had better do his job and make sure they are offered more remuneration so they don't go away. All they're asking for is a balanced pay like they're getting in the hospital."
Mrs Robinson was born in "the wopwops" at Whangaruru. She started her nursing career on 16 shillings a week with sixpence tax, saving up for four months to buy one textbook.
When the last part of the DHB nurses' pay settlement comes into play in July many primary health nurses working for GPs, iwi and other non-governmental providers will be earning up to $195 a week less than their counterparts in hospitals.
The campaign for pay parity could impact on the public if private sector nurse numbers drop.
"We try to keep people really well in the community so they don't end up in hospital," said Kia Ora Ngatiwai nurse Tarannah Vette.
"The union fought for them (DHB nurses), won for them and it was always the next step to fight for the primary healthcare workers," said Miss Vette.
Chris Farrelly, chief executive of Whangarei's Manaia PHO, said last year's increase for DHB nurses was long overdue, but funding pay parity for primary nurses might cause a few headaches.
"It (the money) has to come from somewhere but the organisations themselves don't have the resources. In general practice there are only two ways: government subsidy or increased patient fees.
"I would support parity across the nursing sector, otherwise there's going to be destabilisation - nurses will go where the higher pay is."
Deborah Foote, a nurse at Whangarei Hospital and treasurer for the NZNO Te Tai Tokerau regional council, said the union's beef is not with employers, but rather the government.
"They're expecting more and more out of the private sector without putting more in. The problem is if they don't come to the party we'll have people leaving the primary services," she said, with many already earning "megabucks" abroad.
One public health nurse said, "I've got friends earning $60,000 and I'm earning $40,000. It's not just a couple of thousand dollars."
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation has nearly 40,000 members nationwide, with around half Northland's 1700 members employed by district health boards.