Kia ora Members will be aware that we are currently in facilitated bargaining at the Employment Relations Authority over the MECA. We are heading back into another round of facilitation this Friday 13 May. It's a confidential process so we have been very constrained as to what we can report back to you until the process is over. In saying that, like you, I am increasingly angered and frustrated by your employers’ failure to meaningfully address claims to improve your pay and working conditions. We have reached this point because it has been impossible to directly engage with the groups that have the authority to resolve our claims. We negotiate with TAS (Technical Advisory Services), which acts under instruction from the DHB Chief Executives. In turn, those CEs are legally obliged to get approval from the Director General of Health for any offer they wish to make. Of course, underlying all of this is a Government policy of public sector pay restraint. As we all know, come 1 July DHBs will no longer exist and the Ministry of Health’s role, with regard to employment, will cease. Therefore, we are currently attempting to persuade groups that are one or two steps removed from the negotiating table, and who are facing their own imminent demise, that they need to fulfil their duty of care, in good faith, to us. DHB siege mentalityInstead, the DHBs’ intransigence would suggest they have already decided that a “siege mentality” is the best negotiation tactic, until they are relieved of their duty by the arrival of Hauora Aotearoa (Health New Zealand) and Te Mana Hauora Māori (Māori Health Authority). The fact these new agencies have already prioritised the establishment of a health workforce taskforce hopefully signals a more mature future employment relationship. However, that does not solve our immediate problem of settling the current MECA negotiations. While I wish for common sense to prevail within the DHBs, and for both sides to reach a fair settlement, we may have no choice but to resort to industrial action. We are currently reviewing our options. Alienating the health workforceThe DHBs’ intransigence is entirely in keeping with their behaviour towards other healthcare workers. This week allied health staff who are members of the PSA start a work to rule campaign and will hold a 24-hour strike on 16 May. It beggars belief as to why our health employers are going out of their way to alienate large parts of their workforce who will be critical to the success of the upcoming health reforms and the recently formulated Planned Care Taskforce. I would respectfully suggest that when your day-to-day business is totally reliant on a workforce’s goodwill, it is a really bad idea to ignore the workforce’s longstanding and legitimate concerns. While the ASMS bargaining team will keep pressing our case as strongly as possible in front of the ERA, you can also help by continuing to write to your DHB CE, and to Government health ministers, Andrew Little, Ayesha Verrall and Peeni Henare. There is a good example of a member letter in the latest Specialist magazine if you need some ideas. The clearer the extent of any groundswell of opinion, the stronger our presence in these meetings. If you have already written, I thank you. Other work continuesMeanwhile, despite the difficulties with the MECA process, other aspects of ASMS’ work have not been put on hold. Executive Director Sarah Dalton and her team have successfully negotiated a number of improved local agreements for local ED shift rosters - thereby improving specific pay for those shift workers. The industrial team is working its way through the few remaining EDs not yet addressed to do the same. There has also been a huge amount of work, across all DHBs to ensure that members whose workload has increased with the Omicron surge are properly recompensed for any extra duties. Furthermore, work to ensure all DHBs comply with their legal obligation to support appropriate recovery time continues. I hope you all stay well and are able to give yourselves the time and space that we each need to maintain our wellbeing in the face of ongoing Covid, winter surge, and overburdened clinics, lists and workloads. Kia kaha Julian Vyas |