Doctors prepare to strike next week over collective agreement

The New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association last week gave notice of intention to strike for 48 hours, starting at 7am on Tuesday next week, in a bid to renew the national collective agreement that expired on February 28 last year.

“Despite a year of bargaining, the employers delayed tabling claims until September, nine months after bargaining began,” NZRDA president Dr Courtney Brown said, “and when they did, there were numerous clawbacks to terms and conditions

Despite a further three months of bargaining, “significant clawbacks” remained on the table.

“While in 2018 most health workers gained improvements to terms and conditions of employment without facing clawbacks, the DHBs have taken a distinctly different approach to resident doctors,” Dr Brown added. “It feels like they are punishing us for our successful safer hours campaign.

“Resident doctors are a

of

employment.” particularly vulnerable workforce due to the mobile nature of their employment, moving regularly and frequently between DHBs as part of their training. With each move they are technically new employees, and without a multi-employer collective agreement they are literally at the mercy of different terms and conditions being imposed.”

The NZRDA remained available to attend mediation with the DHBs to negotiate a settlement ahead of the strike action.