Kia ora koutou,
We know the upcoming bargaining is on everyone’s minds, so we’ll start with an update there…
The STONZ bargaining team has now had two days of pre-bargaining with Te Whatu Ora. This is classified as pre-bargaining because we are starting discussions before the formal bargaining period.
All members should have received an update via email which includes more details of what was discussed. If you didn’t receive this, please check your ‘junk inbox’, or email support@stonz.co.nz.
We have two further days of pre- negotiations at the end of this month.
It’s fair to say that discussions so far have been constructive, and we appreciated the Te Whatu Ora advocates engagement across two very full days.
A huge thank you also to our team who have kicked off this work and for your passion and dedication to progressing this important mahi for us all.
We touched on the expectation of a significant pay increase but have not delved into that in depth as it is first important to outline the “how we are paid” discussion (i.e., the pay structure) before the “what we are paid” discussion. However, the nearly two-year conversation we have been having with Te Whatu Ora and the last two Health Ministers about the impact of pay equity, the decline in real pay, and the increase in hours worked has made it clear how important this issue is to members. Preliminary discussions have shown us that they have been receptive to our message.
We will be keeping you up to date as our negotiations progress so please keep an eye out for our social media and email updates.
Pay Category Survey: A huge thank you to the huge number of you (1000+) who answered the call on our recent pay category micro survey so quickly. The information that you have provided has been incredibly valuable to us in calculating the global cost of potential pay claims.
AGM Update: We held our AGM on Thursday 24th August, in the evening of the first of our delegates training days. As well as updates on our President, Treasurer and Research portfolios, the meeting also voted on changes to the Constitution and re-election of existing Committee members. The constitution changes and committee re-election were passed. For full details please refer to the AGM Minutes and STONZ Financials that will be emailed to members soon.
ASMS planning further Industrial Action: ASMS members voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of two additional strikes in October: a 12-hour strike on October 2nd, and a 24-hour strike on October 24th 2023.
We have previously provided advice around the current Industrial action, and in addition to this we would like to better understand how RMOs are experiencing these strikes across the motu and encourage members to get in touch if there are any issues arising from the action being taken by SMOs. E.g., are you being asked/expected to fill in/proceed with less supervision? Are clinical sessions such as clinics and theatre lists, ward care etc continuing with less supervision or being cancelled?
It is going to be an interesting, and important next few months; with STONZ heading into formal negotiations mid-October, the SMO industrial action and the election on the horizon. As always, we thank you for all the mahi you are doing to support our health system and ensure our patients and communities still receive the care they need, and your continued support to STONZ and what we are working towards.
We encourage you to read the other blogs published this week and make sure you enter the draw to win a 2 nights nature stay thanks to the crew at Unyoked, which we're sure most of us could do with at the moment!
Ngā manaakitanga,
The STONZ Team
Christina, Jordan, Rich, Emma, Bri & Alastair