Unions strike for better pay and conditions

Top medical minds and home support workers walked off the job on Thursday to decry the beleaguered health system at 1903 Square.

“Shame!” and “Stand up, fight back!” were echoed by protestors as part of a nationwide healthcare strike against the government’s stalled negotiations for pay injections that could fill understaffed areas in the public health sector.

Multiple doctors at Nelson Hospital have voiced serious concerns in recent weeks that staff shortages were causing waiting lists to climb.

Embattled attendees at the Nelson rally included members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) whose Nelson-based president Dr Katie Ben called on the government to end cuts to the public health system to commit to safer staffing at every level.

“Our health system is sinking, we have 4500 doctors who do not want to strike, but we feel that they have no choice by this government,” she says.

“We’re calling on the government to say, enough is enough, fund us properly, don’t spend $380 million on locals to fill gaps. God knows how much they spent nursing extra shifts or suddenly having to grab people back home after a 10-hour shift to come back in again for overnight.

“You deserve not to wait for three years to get a hip replaced, you deserve not to have to die while you’re on the waiting list, and you absolutely deserve to have publicly-funded healthcare in a fit-for-purpose hospital with fit-for-purpose staffing.”

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora chief clinical officer Dr Richard Sullivan says it values its doctors but, due to tight finances, it had a limited budget for salary settlements.

“We are committed to reaching a settlement with ASMS and we have applied to the Employment Relations Authority for facilitation which would give an independent party the opportunity to hear from both sides and make a recommendation,” he says.

“We are disappointed at the union’s refusal to take our offer to members as we believe this was a fair and reasonable offer given the budget constraints we have and the current economic environment.

“Under the offer rejected by the union, over the two years of the agreement, senior doctors would have received increases to base pay ranging from $8093 to $29,911, depending on experience.

“Additionally, those on step four to step 15 would have received an $8000 lump sum payment.”

The Public Service Association (PSA) represents home support workers who are employed by Access Community Health, which is paid by the government to deliver in-home support to the vulnerable.

Nelson organiser of the union, Kate Davis, says 1000 home support workers across the motu protested over its stalled pay increases, which is the minimum wage at entry-level, and the union felt they had been given the cold shoulder by Health Minister Simeon Brown.

“The minister should be aware that [home support workers] have had no pay offer, and he hasn’t even spoken about them, like they’re not on his radar, and that is appalling,” she says.

“Everyone in health is important, but what we’re seeing is the whole health system having a failure, going into collapse, and it definitely needs CPR.

“[Home support workers] are freeing up hospital beds, and they’ve been offered a zero per cent pay increase for the second year. In regard to the pay, people leave all the time… like our workers from Tākaka, who are doing all of Golden Bay, using their own vehicles, driving for miles to do maybe half an hour’s work.”