Some of the PHC nurses taking action at Majestic Square last Thursday. Photo / Paul Brooks
Some of the PHC nurses taking action at Majestic Square last Thursday. Photo / Paul Brooks
A small but serious group of primary care nurses gathered at Whanganui's Majestic Square last Thursday, wearing face masks and wielding signs to get their point across, that their profession was being paid far too little in comparison with the hospital nursing sector.
Traffic slowed down, cars tooted in responseand the nurses hope they made their point. One of the nurses, who has been in the profession since qualifying in 1981, says all nurses were on the same rate then, whether they were primary care (clinics, GPs' nurses etc) or hospital. She believes unions diverged some time ago and pay rates drifted apart, to the point where now there is a 10.6 per cent difference.
Around the country, Primary Health Care (PHC) workers went on strike for eight hours after mediation with employers failed to reach a resolution. The strike included about 3200 PHC nurses and administration staff across more than 500 general practices and accident/medical centres nationwide.
