Above: NZNO PHC Stopwork meeting – Auckland, 30 September 2020

PHC MECA Update 21 January 2021

Kia ora Member,

Firstly, apologies for the delay in sending this Update, which is due to unexpected sick leave.

As indicated earlier, the first step was for employers to vote on ratifying the offer we received late last year.

We can now report that the required 67 percent acceptance threshold was achieved by the employer parties. There are 35 employers who have yet to ratify the offer and these are being urgently followed up by the New Zealand Medical Association.

However, around 50 employers have not accepted the offer. This is a higher number than previously. NZNO will now need to enter into serious negotiations with these employers (and any others that may arise out of the remaining 35 as above) to re-canvass their MECA issues so we have taken all opportunities to ensure as many NZNO members as possible would be covered by the 2019 PHC MECA should members ratify it. 

We will directly contact members early next week in those workplaces where their employer has said no or has not responded with next steps.

Practically, given the number of outstanding employers, these required steps will take quite some resourcing and we will be endeavouring to ensure that NZNO ratification can proceed by the end of February.

Ngā mihi,

Chris Wilson on behalf of your negotiation team