Nurses protest in Christchurch last year. Photo: RNZ / Rob Dixon
A health commentator says union nurses employed by Te Whatu Ora will have to make difficult decisions in the next couple of weeks.
Around 35,000 staff are now voting on whether to accept a historic pay equity offer.
The proposed settlement arose from mediation between Te Whatu Ora, New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and the Public Service Association (PSA), who have been in litigation over the claim in the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and Employment Court since 2022.
If accepted, the offer would see Te Whatu Ora-employed registered nurses get an additional 4.5 percent boost to pay, and senior nurses a 6.5 percent bump.
Health commentator Ian Powell said there was a lot for nurses to think about at the moment.
''There's a very real risk that anger, frustration and fatigue could actually lead to, what looks like a really good deal on pay equity voted down - one would hope not, but one would understand why that would happen.
"And if that happens then that's on the government and Health New Zealand."
''There's a very real risk that anger, frustration and fatigue could actually lead to, what looks like a really good deal on pay equity voted down" - Health commentator Ian Powell
He said it was clear nurses were not confident with the bargaining process.
NZNO chief executive Paul Goulter said the pay equity claim was first lodged in 2017. Goulter said staff want the issue of pay equity resolved as they were fed up with long-standing sex-based discrimination.
''Gender discrimination has been a feature of nursing, probably as long as there's been nurses.
''This has been a serious problem right across all of that period of time. Our members have consistently been upset over the way they've been treated, these are the male-dominated professions."
Goulter said if members vote to reject the offer, litigation will continue.
''This is a very passionate issue for nurses - they want to see full recognition for what they've had to put up with for years around sex-based discrimination."
Meanwhile, Mind the Gap co-founder Dellwyn Stuart has called for the reform of the Equal Pay Act.
''Our Equal Pay Act is more than 50 years old, it is not fit for purpose. We need new legislation and we need different actions to be taken by our employers."
Stuart feared the country may have gone backwards recently.
''We think actually it may have gone backwards, based on the Retirement Commissioner's recent report about women's retirement savings going backwards in the last year. We think that there's probably an increase in the pay gap as well."
The pay equity ballot closes on 31 July.
Meanwhile, NZNO's Te Whatu Ora members will also vote whether to accept the latest collective agreement offer from Health NZ from 1 August.
They will decide on whether to accept the flat-rate salary increase of $4000, $5000 for senior nurses and a further 3 percent next year, which is completely separate from the pay equity issue.
Powell said when "a group as committed as nurses take strike action, their body might leave the hospital, but their hearts are still there.
"It's a hard decision to make. What that reflects is an extreme level of a lack of confidence."
A 24-hour strike planned to commence on 9 August, organised before the latest offer, will be called off if members vote to accept it.