Celebrating health and safety wins in collective bargaining at Summerset! 

Summerset is one of New Zealand's largest aged residential care providers, with 30 villages across the country. NZNO and E tū members at Summerset voted this week to ratify a new collective agreement. As well as negotiating pay rises for nurses, caregivers and domestic staff, the new agreement also includes important new health and safety provisions for resident and employee safety:

• Village Health and Safety meetings will held once a month in each village and employee Health and Safety delegates will be paid their normal hourly rate for these meetings.
• If there are training requirements for Health and Safety delegates, this will paid at the normal hourly rate.
• When a workplace incident impacts an employee's mental health, it will be recorded in the Health and Safety system and followed up by a discussion with the manager.
• EAP counselling will be available to all employees as needed.

A special thanks to the amazing Summerset union bargaining team of caregivers, nurses and housekeepers who represented Summerset workers at the negotiations: NZNO delegates Natasha Greig (Summerset In the Bay), Helen Hodson (Summerset In the Bay), Jacinta Lolotai (Summerset at Avonhead), Janeth Barrogl (Summerset Trentham), and Tiaho Whakamaurangi (Summerset The Landing) and E tū delegates Pauline Mullins (Summerset Whanganui), Becky Higham (Mountain View New Plymouth) Jerica Pene (Summerset On the Landing Kenepuru) and Denise Folasa (Summerset Falls, Warkworth).