An eleventh hour offer from DHBs to settle the allied health collective agreement has been rejected by the PSA bargaining team.
PSA organiser, Will Matthews says, “We made it clear to the employers that if an offer was made that honoured the Employment Relations Authority report, we would recommend it to our members. Several Government Ministers have said publicly that they saw a resolution to the dispute through the recommendations of the Authority. Yet what we have received today is a kick in the guts.
To blatantly disregard the ERA facilitators recommendations is not only a moral failing, but an act of bad faith.
We would like to share these recommendations with allied health workers but have been stymied so far by the DHB’s refusal to allow them to be released. We believe this lack of transparency is also in bad faith and can only be intended to keep allied health workers in the dark.
The Ministry of Health has bungled every opportunity to bring workers a decent offer, and as a result 10,000 health workers are going on strike.
We are calling for negotiations to be handed over to HealthNZ and the interim agency as we have lost confidence in the Ministry of Health.
Without a guarantee of fair pay, allied health workers will again vote on sustained strike action through June and beyond the establishment of the new Health NZ.
The ball is again squarely in the DHB’s court.”
