Kia ora After another two days of MECA negotiations we are starting to get down to business. We have ambitious goals sitting behind these negotiations: safer workplaces, improved well-being conditions and mechanisms to tackle recruitment
and retention. Our 55 claims cover issues such as gender pay equality, fair recognition for working anti-social hours, better recovery time after shifts, and safe staffing. We’ve also started presenting our salary claim, beginning with a principles approach:
As you know, we have the BERL research highlighting the great trans-Tasman salary divide, and tackling this is a big ask. We know that about 1700 NZ-trained doctors choose to work in Australia. Our staffing surveys point to a 24% shortage of SMOs across the country, which coincidentally adds up to a similar number. We’re also committed to getting meaningful responses to our wellbeing claims and concerns and need to stay focused on shift and after-hours work. The gender pay gap in medicine also needs addressing. Some of this may happen outside bargaining, but we want to see protections cemented into the MECA. The DHBs have come back with some responses and some questions to what we have tabled so far. It’s still very early days in the negotiations. The next round is on March 11-12 and we have another six sessions scheduled before June. We care about your feedback and opinions, which will help us focus our attention on the most important areas of our claims, so watch out for some short surveys and polls. The more responses we get, the better informed our team will be. You can also write to us at meca@asms.org.nz Kind regards Lloyd Woods |