Staff at Hamilton private hospital strike, say pay is less than public-sector

Technical staff and nurses at a private hospital are striking in Hamilton today, saying some technicians are paid hundreds less than their public-sector colleagues.

It comes after a report claiming 80 percent of the new money the government has injected into public health in the past three years has gone to the private sector.

Workers at Braemar private hospital are striking on a picket line between 8am and midday on Tuesday.

NZNO delegate and theatre nurse Kaitlyn Cattley said Braemar's latest pay offer would leave workers two percent worse off as prices were rising faster than wages.

She said the public would likely be shocked to know a full-time, experienced sterile science technician - that is, the people who sterilise the equipment used throughout the hospital, including for operations - would earn $180 a week less than they would at Te Whatu Ora from December.

That's despite Te Whatu Ora paying for Braemar to pick up publicly funded surgeries.

Cattley said members chose to strike the day after Labour Day because fewer patients were scheduled, minimising disruption to patient care.

"We are not striking because we do not care about our patients. We are striking because we care about our patients, our colleagues, our families, and the future of healthcare at Braemar Hospital."

Braemar Hospital told RNZ it had received notice from the NZ Nurses Organisation of industrial action on Tuesday 27 October, involving a withdrawal of labour by participating NZNO members from 8am to midday and a 24-hour ban on overtime.

"As always, our priority is maintaining patient safety and the highest quality care. Contingency arrangements are in place and we have worked directly with specialists and affected patients where changes to planned care has been required."

Braemar has applied to the Employment Relations Authority for urgent facilitation of bargaining with NZNO. The last mediation meeting had been on October 9, with the latest offer made following that meeting.

Braemar Hospital's Registered Nurse pay rates had increased between 39 percent and 41.3 percent since 2021, it said.

The most recent offer would align Registered Nurses with comparable regional private surgical hospital collective agreements, and take them 5.1 percent above Registered Nurse rates in public hospitals.

Permanent Braemar employees also had a range of perks including free parking, daily morning and afternoon tea, and employer-funded life, critical care and income protection insurance.

The hospital did not address claims that sterile science technicians would be making substantially less than their public sector counterparts, but said for technical roles represented by NZNO, the offer provided an average increase of 8.6 percent on current pay.