Thousands of doctors plan strike
Union members reject Health NZ’s latest pay offer and give notice of action in May
More than 2000 doctors will go on strike next month after union members voted yesterday to reject Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora’s latest pay offer.
Members of the New Zealand Resident Doctors Association issued a strike notice covering 2500 of Health New Zealand’s doctors after bargaining with the health agency reached “an impasse”. The strike will see a “full withdrawal” of work for 25 hours from 7am on May 7 to 8am on May 8.
The association said Health New Zealand’s proposals to employees “included a menu of unacceptable elements”, citing pay cuts for some staff among other issues.
The Herald has approached Health New Zealand for comment.
Association national secretary Deborah Powell said the proposals were an “unacceptable set of remuneration options, including what would be pay cuts or a pay freeze for nearly 600 registrars, including 300 GP trainees, in 2025”. Other issues the association had with the proposals included claims of “pay cuts of up to 12 per cent”, “a pay cut for general practice trainee positions”, “lowering the cap on salary progression” and “removing the extra step in the salary scale once a registrar passes their first specialist training exam”.
Powell said: “The cruel irony is that Te Whatu Ora has presented us with a pay offer which represents a significant uplift of around 15-20 per cent and up to 25 per cent in salary rates for some resident doctors. Because of the salary model in our collective agreement, however, the impact on our members is uneven and unfair.
“Our members are united in not accepting a pay deal which would cut the pay of any resident doctors, especially at a time when the RMO [resident medical officer] workforce already has 500 vacancies and we struggle to fill the current number of GP training places.”
The association also took issue with Health New Zealand not offering a contractual commitment to a prio-ragreed principle on staff retention to keep resident doctors on as senior doctors. Health New Zealand had also not committed to change a claimed rostering issue. The association said staff were rostered on to consecutive long days, requiring doctors to work up to 15-hour shifts back-to-back.
“We have a simple message to Te Whatu Ora in our bargaining — every resident doctor counts. An uplift in some resident doctors’ pay cannot be paid for by pay cuts for other resident doctors,” Powell said.