The Nurses Organisation union (NZNO) says their members don't trust the DHB to fulfil their promises which is why they rejected the Government's "vague" offer.
On Thursday evening, voting closed on the Government's latest pay offer, which included a settlement package of safe staffing and patient initiatives plus pay rises worth more than $400 million.
A clear majority of NZNO members who work in district health boards (DHBs) voted to decline it because it "fails to address staffing issues in a way that would ensure and protect the future of the health system".
Lead Advocate David Wait said they didn't like the agreement's "vague promises".
NZNO Industrial Services Manager Glenda Alexander told The AM Show on Friday nurses had considered the offer but felt it was too ambiguous and they DHBs may not follow through.
"I guess what is the problem for our members is it is again a 'this will happen in the future' and, to be fair, there is a track record of broken or unfulfilled promises…
"The reality is that on the ground every day, our members (nurses) walk into public hospitals and their workloads are out of control. They are really concerned about the safety of their patients and so the reason they have rejected a pay offer that was starting to look okay, is because there was no certainty about how they were going to address the safety issues for themselves and the patients. They are taking a stand on this."
She said "in a nutshell", nurses don't trust DHBs.
"They have been told to wait for three years now. We had agreements in place but those were unfulfilled.
"[We want] something concrete that people can actually trust in because the trust is really low."
Strikes planned for August and September are now back on the table, but Alexander said she hopes nurses and DHBs can come to an agreement before then.
"We have got a strike notice which will be issued on Monday for the 19th of August for an eight-hour strike. As always we try to find a solution… We want to get back there and have another conversation and do our best to find a solution. It's not about striking for the sake of striking, it's about striking to find a settlement that will actually deal with the issues which are really important to our members."
In a statement after the decision was announced, New Zealand's District Health Boards said they were "surprised' by the 'No' vote.
DHB spokesperson Dale Oliff said they will consider what they can do to prevent further strikes.
"Our team will be reaching out to the union as soon as it possibly can," she said.
“We're willing to consider different ways of shaping the settlement, but the union needs to engage in a meaningful way.
"During the course of these negotiations, DHBs have tabled four offers for settlement – each one bigger than the one before. The union hasn’t budged from its starting point of 17 percent.
"At some stage, the NZNO has to stop saying 'It's not enough' and be clear about what will settle these talks."
She said negotiation involved a degree of "realism and compromise" and is urging the NZNO and its members to reconsider their position.
