Key facts about proposed industrial action by PSA

Media Release

10 March 2016

Key facts about proposed industrial action by PSA

The three Auckland DHBs are frustrated that the PSA is breaking off discussions with them for a collective agreement covering Allied, Public Health and Technical staff to pursue industrial action.

“The PSA needs to be up front about the issue in this bargaining. They need to explain to the public why, once again, they’re proposing to disrupt services to patients, rather than work constructively toward resolution,” said Julie Patterson, Chair of the DHBs’ Workforce Strategy and Employment Relations Strategy Groups and Chief Executive of Whanganui DHB.

“The PSA claims that the strikes are about proposals to cut our current employees’ terms and conditions and increase workloads. This is simply untrue. The one outstanding issue in the bargaining relates to the payment of double-time for working weekends.

“Our allied, public health and technical staff provide important clinical services.

“The DHBs believe the arguments for improved patient outcomes that could result from extending the availability of these services are incontrovertible. We know that our staff, as committed health professionals, are aware and are ultimately supportive of this,” said Ms Patterson.

“The DHBs acknowledge all our staff work hard, and that the demands on the health system continue to grow, challenging us to find new ways of delivering services.

“This is happening throughout New Zealand and across the world. But this isn’t about working harder, or about increasing the hours our staff work, it's about better planning and service development, and enabling better investment in services.”

DHBs want to invest in expanding services but believe the current requirement to pay a "double time" premium for hours worked on Saturdays and Sundays is a key barrier to this. The double time payment is out of line with other clinical groups and limits the ability to involve allied staff in delivering improved services to the public.

“The PSA should stop misrepresenting its proposed strikes as being about ‘cuts’ to conditions or funding and be upfront with the public. The key issue is its view they should enjoy a weekend premium that is better than the national rate for nursing staff under the health sector’s largest collective agreement that applies to other PSA members doing the same range of jobs in the other 17 DHBs across New Zealand.

“The Auckland DHBs remain committed to concluding a collective agreement that is fair and reasonable. The PSA won’t achieve resolution through disrupting patient services with strike action, and we urge them to return to the bargaining table to find a way forward,” said Ms Patterson.

KEY FACTS

• The three Auckland metropolitan DHBs employ around 3,000 full-time equivalent staff who are covered by this bargaining with an annual payroll of around $220m.

• Almost one-in-three allied staff work weekends as part of their 'ordinary' hours and get paid double time.

• The majority of Nurses and Allied staff employed by the 17 DHBs in the rest of the country get paid time-and-a-half for working weekends.

• The three Auckland DHBs spend roughly $4m p.a. on this double time weekend premium.

• In December, the DHBs offered a 4% base increase to pay rates over 23 months – this was rejected by union members.

• The three Auckland DHBs have collectively had an increase in their funding of approximately $1 billion over the last 7 years.

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