Thousands of nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants across Aotearoa have voted to accept the latest collective agreement offer from Te Whatu Ora, bringing an end to nearly 20 months of tense bargaining and industrial action.
Members of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation working within Te Whatu Ora accepted the agreement following a close secret ballot involving more than 38,000 eligible members.
The agreement will deliver pay increases over a two-year period for approximately 35,000 frontline healthcare workers employed across New Zealand’s public health system.
The settlement also includes commitments around safe staffing measures, including further work on nurse-to-patient ratios and improvements to the Care Capacity Demand Management system used to assess staffing levels in hospitals and healthcare services.
The lengthy bargaining process has included nationwide strikes, protests and rolling industrial action as nurses pushed for better pay, improved staffing levels and stronger workplace protections.
The dispute became one of the largest industrial campaigns in New Zealand’s health sector in recent years, highlighting growing pressure on frontline staff dealing with workforce shortages, burnout and increasing demand across hospitals and community health services.
Te Whatu Ora and NZNO are now expected to begin implementing the agreement, including backpay arrangements and work programmes linked to staffing transparency and accountability.
The settlement comes as the health system continues undergoing major structural and financial pressures following the creation of Te Whatu Ora under the Pae Ora health reforms.
While the agreement has been accepted, union representatives acknowledge many members remained prepared to continue industrial action, reflecting ongoing frustration about staffing pressures and long-term challenges facing the healthcare workforce.
