Whanganui and South Taranaki will be part of a national strike on Thursday by care workers for the intellectually disabled.
Workers at IDEA, represented by the E tū union, have been in a pay dispute with their employers since October, and about 3000 staff across New Zealand plan to strike for one hour from 8.30am on Thursday.
IDEA Services, the operational arm of IHC New Zealand, has been in negotiations with E tū and the one-hour stop work meeting comes after mediation talks failed to make progress on pay.
E tū advocate Alastair Duncan said 1433 workers nationwide voted to strike in secret ballots held during the past two weeks.
"I can't give you figures for the region but I can say workers in the provinces had a very strong turnout.
"IDEA have been more willing to negotiate than some other providers but there has been no progress on pay."
The Government's equal pay settlement for care workers, agreed last week, only applied from July and IDEA workers were owed a pay rise from October, Mr Duncan said.
"We asked for a small down payment back in October and have had a resounding 'no offer' ever since.
"The Government's equal pay offer is great news for care and support workers but it doesn't apply until July, and people need to plan their lives.
"They have been trying to live on low wages for a long time - government funding to the disability sector is very poor."
IDEA Services announced in March that it would be exiting services of facility-based respite, foster care, shared care, home support and after-school and holiday programmes due to lack of government funding.
Mr Duncan said the changes would affect about 200 workers and, coupled with the stalled pay negotiations, made for something of a "perfect storm".
He said IDEA's "service reviews" meant working hours were cut and employees were forced to work "antisocial" hours.
IDEA chief executive Janine Stewart said the organisation was still hoping to come to an agreement with the union.
"The pay equity issue has been the major reason for the delay," she said.
"Now that an announcement has been made we hope to be able to agree a collective soon."
Ms Stewart said the company had made arrangements to minimise the impact of the strike.
"IDEA Services has plans to ensure no one we support is adversely affected by the strike."
IHC is funded through contracts with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development, and Mr Duncan said employees were experiencing uncertainty due to restructuring.
"IDEA is prone to cutting hours of its staff and is now going through a major restructure. Staff are right to be concerned about their jobs and the impact on the people they support."
A second strike is scheduled for May 11, for two hours, though another meeting between E tū and IDEA is scheduled for May 5.
IDEA Services has offices in Whanganui, Hawera and Palmerston North.