Attention Nurses! You’re Getting a Rough Deal in NZ

Continuing our series of Migrant Tales, first hand accounts of the migrant experience of New Zealand taken from locations around the net.

If you are considering emigrating to New Zealand to work or train in nursing you need to read this, you may be surprised to learn there is no nursing shortage in New Zealand and working conditions in some sectors can be little more than slavery.

Today’s tale was first published on  a NZ forum which has since closed down. The author, a nursing professional, comments on an article published on the news site Stuff: Discrimination and broken promises for migrant nurses. It concerns a New Zealand Nurses Organisation’s recently released report which found many of New Zealand’s migrant nurses are getting a rough deal.

“Tales of racial discrimination, landing the worst shifts, and a glass ceiling on careers have surfaced.  “The culture in New Zealand in nursing is to be suspicious of overseas nurses,” one respondent commented.” You can may full report here .

The Expat Exposed commentator wrote on the forum that this was:

“A great article of interest to nurses considering migrating to New Zealand. First of all, be sure to have your registration with the NZ Nursing Council before you arrive.  I t would also be wise of you to
have a job and a signed contract before you arrive in NZ. There is no longer a nursing shortage in NZ and foreign nurses are being exploited to replace the huge number of Kiwi nurses who migrate to Australia to
take advantage of better working conditions and higher wages.

And yes, foreign nurses are used to fill in the gaps in aged-care: an area in which most Kiwis will not work. And yes, the wages in that sector are low and the workload beyond reasonable. While NZ may seem like a haven to those of you from a third-world country, you will be treated like an indentured servant.

Furthermore, if you have a penis, you will be openly discriminated against in workplaces rated by NZ ac-creditors and media as NZ “Best Employers”. There is no retribution as this is a small country and the chances are that the person who is doing the discriminating is very closely related to the person who might be your “advocate”.

New Zealand is a small and incestuous nation and therein lies the lack of justice. If you are not one of them, then you are just not entitled to any degree of equality.

I am not a hater, I have been in this country nine years. Just trust me in saying that there is no equal opportunity in NZ for migrants (unless you happen to marry a Kiwi who is well connected).

Let me stress again, there is no shortage of nurses in NZ. The fallacy of a nursing shortage is used to attract migrants who will keep wages down and housing prices high.

One day I will tell me story and name names, but as I said, NZ  is a tiny country and being black-balled here is a reality.”

 

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4 thoughts on “Attention Nurses! You’re Getting a Rough Deal in NZ”

  1. Hi found it very interesting as a male nurse in new zealand I have been discriminated against but also as a UK nurse I have found some discrimination in the DHBs there seems to be a systemic problem of cronyism, they are highly unprofessional organisations. I would not recomend for a UK nurse to go to new zealand for work as the promotional prospects are terrible aswell its either a few levels of nursing or management and to get any good jobs you either have to kiss arse or you have to be in the in crowd which means the people who were born here.

  2. Finding work as a highly experienced nurse in South Auckland is also very difficult. I am working but the organisation I work for is the most pitifully inept, nepotistic, incompetent and dishonest I have ever experienced. There is no other appropriate employment in this area. Luckily I have sold my property and will be heading back to the UK after over 20 years here.

    • What I find really bizarre here is that amount of kiwis whining over the lack of staff, yet when those roles are filled by foreigners they whine about that too. It’s like it HAS to be kiwi nurses or nothing. Utterly ridiculous.

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