Thousands of Nurses Across New Zealand Strike Over Pay and Staffing Shortages

In a powerful display of solidarity, thousands of nurses, midwives, and healthcare assistants across New Zealand have walked off the job in a 24-hour strike, demanding better pay and safe staffing levels in the country's overburdened healthcare system. The industrial action, which began at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, marks the latest escalation in a long-running dispute between the Nurses Organisation and the government over contract negotiations that have stalled since September.

Health Minister Simeon Brown has defended the current pay offer, calling it fair, while accusing the union of endangering patients with its tactics. However, nurses on the front lines tell a starkly different story. Pip Cresswell, a former charge nurse, said she left her role due to the unsustainable workload and lack of support. “We’ve got 7000 staff in Capital and Coast Hutt Valley, but we’ve got 1000 positions empty,” she said. “We’re being replaced at the rate that people left last week. We’re never going to get the 1000 people back.”

The protests, which saw thousands of nurses march past Parliament in Wellington and other cities, highlighted deep concerns over patient safety. Seteli Pelasio, an emergency department nurse in Hutt Valley, described the current situation as the worst she has seen in 30 years. “It’s bloody scary,” she said. “Not just the lack of staffing, but the experience and the staff mix on the floor.”

The issue of staffing shortages has also led to long wait times for critical services. Anne-Marie Frew, a specialist diabetes nurse, noted that patients in her region face a two-year wait for insulin pumps. “I’m scared, I’m really worried about risk,” she said. “We’ve had no increase in our nursing resources for 16 years, despite the exponential growth in people with diabetes and the technology available.”

Labour’s health spokesperson, Dr. Ayesha Verrall, joined the march, expressing concern over the deteriorating conditions in public hospitals. “Some of the nurses here today I worked with when I was a specialist at Wellington Hospital,” she said. “I’m really concerned about some of the things they have to say about understaffing.”

The Nurses Organisation has accused the government of underfunding the public health system, with chief executive Paul Goulter stating, “The issue is it’s all about the money and funding. The government has to stump up to restore safe staffing at our hospitals.”

Health NZ’s chief executive, Dale Bramley, countered that staffing levels are safe, citing that the agency has hired 3,000 additional nurses since 2023 and has another 2,000 in the pipeline. “On most of those objective measures, we would say that patient safety in the last five years is stable or improving,” he said.

However, frontline nurses argue that the pressure on the healthcare system has only increased. Kristi Barthel, a nurse in Waikato, said she receives multiple texts daily asking her to work extra shifts. “We’re all burned out because we’re doing extra hours, overtime, and we’re not getting paid for our overtime, and having to pick up extra shifts,” she said.

The strike has also sparked concerns about the future of nursing as a profession. Final-year nursing student Bailey said fewer than half of mid-year graduates have been offered hospital jobs. “There’s not enough of them, it’s such a struggle and it’s so hard being a student and seeing that, and knowing that in a few years that will be me—if I get a job,” she said.

As the strike continues, the call for change grows louder. Nurses across the country are demanding not only fair pay but also the necessary resources to provide safe, sustainable care for patients. With the healthcare system at a crossroads, the outcome of this dispute may shape the future of public health in New Zealand for years to come.