Karen Brown
Wellington, January 25, 2019
District health boards (DHBs) are now preparing for a second two-day strike at public hospitals nationwide next week.
It follows the failure of mediation in Auckland yesterday to solve a deep impasse between them and the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) over rosters.
Junior doctors walked off the job for 48 hours last week and will do so again on Tuesday (January 29) from 7 am until the same time on Thursday (January 31).
DHBs disappointed
DHBs said late yesterday afternoon they were disappointed that the mediation had failed.
RDA senior advocate David Munro said, “In effect, we took every claim off the table but that was not enough. Whilst the DHBs will offer the same pay rise as others have received in health, they will only do so if NZRDA gives up existing provisions that protect Resident Medical Officers (RMOs).”
He said that the Doctors’ Union was “beyond frustrated at the fixed position of the DHBs in demanding we give up essential clauses in our contract that safeguard our members.”
Bargained in good faith
DHBs’ Spokesperson Peter Bramley said that DHBs had been in mediation “looking for ways to settle the current pay round and prevent disrupting some patient services.”
He said DHBs had always bargained in good faith with the RDA and were looking forward to discussions about how to reach an agreement.
“Unfortunately the RDA had no new suggestions on the DHBs’ proposals to address the crucial issues of supporting local flexibility in rostering to provide better care and training,” he said.
Crucial Issues
He said that the issues at stake for hospitals were crucial to supporting the way patient care was delivered at a local level.
“It is hard to find a solution when the RDA is already balloting for more strikes in February – that is hardly good faith and suggests it had already made up its mind to keep striking.”
He also said that hospitals had been making contingency plans for the strikes and would notify affected patients.
The RDA said it had made attempts to resolve the dispute at the mediation yesterday.
It said that efforts included suggesting that the DHBs “withdraw their clawbacks and roll over the current contract with the standard salary adjustments that are being offered to all health practitioners (effectively 3 percent per annum over four years).”
It had offered a change to the safer hours provision in the contact that would allow more flexible rostering.
Some Statistics
Meanwhile, details released to RNZ under the Official Information Act show about half of the doctors that would normally be rostered on to work during the strikes last week worked.
Of the usual 3382 junior doctors rostered to work on Tuesday, 15 January, 1711 worked, while 1724 out of the usual 3427 worked on Wednesday, January 16, 2019.
That is less than the about 3300 claimed by some on picket lines.
It’s not known how many of those who worked were RDA members, or how many were members of the Specialty Trainees of New Zealand union or on individual employment agreements.
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Karen Brown is a Health Correspondent at Radio New Zealand. The above Report and Picture have been published by Indian Newslink under a Special Agreement with www.rnz.co.nz
