Negotiations with nurses, district health boards and the Ministry of Health are being urged to start straight away following the government's approval of funding for pay equity for nurses.
According to the New Zealand Herald. Health Minister Andrew Little says the funding would be worth "hundreds of millions of dollars a year" but did not say how much funding the cabinet had authorised.
He said it would be the most substantial pay equity claim in New Zealand so far, and urged nurses to start negotiating.
"Cabinet now knows and is braced for a significant sum of money that will go towards meeting this ambition," Little said.
"There is nothing grudging about the government coming to terms with pay equity for the nurses."
This comes just as nurses voted to strike again on August 19 and September 9-10, when they rejected the government's latest pay and work conditions offer.
More news to come.