Supplied
NZNO and PSA members working for Whakarongorau Aotearoa telehealth services will strike for 24 hours from 3pm on Friday – meaning people should expect ‘significant delays’ in responses, and some services to be unavailable.
There will be “significant delays” at some national helplines as “fed up” workers strike for 24 hours today – rendering some helpline services entirely out of action.
NZ Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and Public Service Association (PSA) members working for national telehealth services run by Whakarongorau Aotearoa will strike from 3pm on Friday, to 3pm on Saturday, September 16.
Whakarongorau Aotearoa’s services include Healthline, Quitline, 1737 Need to Talk?, Gambling Helpline, Safe to Talk and Shine Domestic Abuse Helpline, among others.
While many of its 35 services will be available, “there will be significant delays in responding to calls due to reduced staffing”, chief employee experience officer Anna Campbell said.
During the strike, a number of services will be unavailable: including 1737, Depression Helpline, Gambling Helpline, Alcohol Drug Helpline, national sexual harm helpline Safe to Talk, and the Shine Domestic Abuse Helpline, among others.
It’s expected Healthline will remain available throughout, Whakarongorau Aotearoa said as of 2pm Friday.
All non-phone channels (text, webchat and email) will be unavailable across all services during the strike.
JASON DORDAY/STUFF
Striking workers will rally outside Whakarongorau main offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on Friday afternoon. (File photo)
Workers who voted to strike include nurses, counsellors, tele-triage nurses, social workers, paramedics, mental health and addictions advisors, and those in clinical and administrative professions.
In 24-hours, Whakarongorau would typically support about 4000 calls and more than 300 non-phone contacts across all services.
“We are literally the first line in many of the services we provide. We are the voice on the other side of your calls 24 hours a day, and seven days a week,” NZNO delegate Bruce Tomlinson said.
Stuff this month reported about a woman who waited more than an hour after contacting 1737 to be told demand was too high to give her “timely” support, which the service apologised about.
NZNO and PSA members have been in “protracted” bargaining with Whakarongorau for months “without any inroads”, and were “fed-up”, NZNO said.
After more than a year since their previous collective agreement expired, they were offered an increase for most workers which fell “far below” the claim for a cost-of-living increase, Tomlinson said.
“Inflation is sitting at 6%, and they’re offering 2.5%, so essentially, they’re asking us again to take another loss in wages.”
PSA Organiser Angelyse Armstrong said telehealth workers “care deeply” about their role picking up the phone when Kiwis call for help and strike action was “not taken lightly”.
Campbell said Whakarongorau Aotearoa is prioritising services during the strike which support people who are in immediate danger and the time would focus “on doing one safe call at a time”.
She said Whakarongorau – owned by ProCare and Pegasus Health – knows how important these telehealth services are: 1 in 3 Kiwis used them in the last 12 months.
Campbell said it aims to pay staff as much as it can.
“We do all we can to recognise the enormous, literally unseen work done by our clinicians and advisors.
“We made an offer to the union that reflected what funding we have received, and what we have been able to afford. Whakarongorau has not been funded to offer more.
“We respect our kaimahi expressing their dissatisfaction and this strike action reflects the lack of value that our staff feel is placed on them as frontline telehealth professionals.”
About 600 staff work from contact centres in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and from home, across the country.
The services are co-funded by Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) in partnership with Te Aka Whai Ora, the Ministry of Social Development, ACC, and the Department of Corrections.