Nurses strike in Wellington last month. Photo: SAMUEL RILLSTONE / RNZ
Nurses and health care assistants working for the Department of Corrections are the latest group voting to strike on 23 October.
A spokesperson for Corrections said it had received formal notice of strike action on the afternoon of 6 October.
About 400 members of the Nurses' Organisation will take part in the 16-hour strike from 6am to 10pm.
It will occur at every place where Corrections provide health services, however, the members will continue to provide life preserving services.
Corrections also said that contingency planning was underway "to ensure the continued safe and secure operation of our prisons" while the strike took place.
Nurses' Organisation spokesperson for Corrections, Michael Pye, said the members wanted less on-call work, more staff to be rostered on shift, and an improved pay offer.
"Nurses and health care assistants are frustrated Corrections have refused to address their safety concerns about the the overly arduous on-call system," he said.
"Corrections need to ensure the prison health workers are safe when they come to work by ensuring enough staff are rostered on shift as there is an increased prison population and an increasingly difficult working environment for prison health workers.
"These essential workers also need an improved pay offer that is not a pay cut and reflects the cost-of-living crisis."
He also said the members had become increasingly frustrated at Corrections' refusal to address concerns raised during collective bargaining.
"Corrections is just not seeming to hear what our members are saying, and the importance of the issues we're raising," he said.
"To make the bargaining move along, we had to do something, otherwise, we're going to spend forever just talking to each other and not getting anywhere."
However, he said that both Corrections and the Nurses' Organisation would have mediation later this week.
A spokesperson for Corrections said it could not comment while collective bargaining between was ongoing.
"Our staff do a challenging job working with some of the most complex people in New Zealand to keep our communities safe.
"We continue to value and work with our union partners, to ensure our staff feel safe, supported and capable in their work."
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