A Rotorua Hospital doctor collapsed “mid-procedure” because they had not had a break in six hours, a striking nurse claims.
Hundreds of nurses, teachers and other healthcare workers were striking at Rotorua’s Village Green yesterday as they joined up to 100,000 people nationally in the largest labour action in 40 years.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) delegate and Rotorua Hospital Emergency Department nurse Denise Taplin told the crowd she recently responded to an emergency call bell after a doctor collapsed “mid-procedure”.
“She was at six hours into her shift – she made sure that all her colleagues had gone off for a break and had something to eat, but she hadn’t.”
Taplin said the doctor rested and ate afterwards and the patient “was fine”.
“It’s not just nurses that are suffering, it is our doctors as well. A lot of them are going overseas just like nurses are – I don’t blame them.”
She wanted politicians to hear nurses were calling for safe staffing because shifts were “often” understaffed.
NZNO delegate and Rotorua Hospital Emergency Department associate clinical nurse manager Lyn Logan told the Rotorua Daily Post she was striking because of her “disillusionment” with the Government.
“They’re choosing to prioritise cost-cutting measures in our health system over the needs of ... all our New Zealanders.”
She echoed Taplin‘s call for safe staffing and said even “a little bit” extra when it came to nurse numbers “would go a long way to helping us with our high workload sometimes”.
New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Rotorua vice-president and Aorangi Primary School teacher aide Victor Mercep led a chant before his speech, saying “power to our children” and “stuff you, National”.
“We are striking because teacher aides should have the same sick leave as teachers,” he told the crowd, which was met with cheers and applause.
“Every classroom should have a teacher aide, better job security, no more fixed term, this Government took away our pay equity that we won five years ago.
“We need to get rid of this coalition Government ...
“We are going to fight for our tamariki and our rangatahi ... until we are heard, treated fairly and valued as the professionals we are.”
Post Primary Teachers’ Association member and Western Heights High School teacher Kylie Nicholls told the Rotorua Daily Post she was striking because of “harsh” working conditions.
“They’ve overhauled our curriculum once under Labour, and it’s been years of training ... only to be blindsided by a whole new curriculum that we’re expected to do yet again,” she said, referring to the recently announced NCEA changes.
“The one thing I hate the most is the rhetoric of, ‘Oh, they get 12 weeks holiday’.”
Nicholls said her last school holidays were spent on a one-week conference and being sick.
“You know what, if the job is that amazing, why are we short 1250 teachers across primary and secondary schools.
“We wouldn’t have people leaving, moving to Aussie.”
Before the strike, employers including Te Whatu Ora Health NZ and the Ministry of Education highlighted the disruption for school families, patients and services.
In a joint statement from Public Service Minister Judith Collins, Health Minister Simeon Brown and Education Minister Erica Stanford on Wednesday, Collins said the strike was “unfair, unproductive and unnecessary”.
Collins said “thousands” of patients who had appointments and surgeries cancelled and “hundreds of thousands” of students missing a day of school were “paying the price” for the unions’ “stunt”.
“For many students, the strike falls in the same week as a teacher-only day and ahead of Labour weekend, and it comes just weeks out from crucial exams for NCEA-level students.
“It is only by genuine negotiation that settlements are achieved. The Government is at the table with offers but the unions are out on the streets with megaphones.”
Stanford said the Government was “stretching its financial mandate” to make an offer that meant 66% of trained primary teachers would be paid a base salary of at least $100,000 within 12 months of ratification – up from 40% currently.
Under its latest offer to the PPTA, 76% of all trained secondary teachers would be paid a base salary of at least $100,000 from October 29 – up from 60% currently.
“The PPTA has chosen to reject this offer,” Stanford said.
The statement said the average salary for senior and registered nurses was $125,662, including overtime, a professional development allowance and penal rates.
Under the latest offer, nurses on the top step would have had a 2% increase in June 2025 – an extra $2135 per year – with another 1% increase in June next year, it said.
Collins said: “We have listened to the unions and made fair offers at the limits of the Government’s ability to make affordable settlements.”
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.