Nurses To Vote On Proposal
May 27, 2002
The creation of a multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) between seven district health boards in the lower North Island has moved a step closer with a proposal due to be considered by nurses at stop work meetings this week, concluding on June 12.
This follows nine months of negotiations and is a huge and significant piece of work involving 11 collective agreements, according to NZNO organiser Craig Walsham.
“This development has been made possible by the Employment Relations Act (ERA) and will allow the majority of nurses to be paid the same rate for the job, irrespective of the town they work in,” said Walsham.
Commenting on the new proposal, NZNO president Jane O'Malley said this was a first attempt to correct the fragmentation of nurses’ terms and conditions of employment that occurred during the nine years of the Employment Contracts Act.
"If our members vote in favour of the proposal, this MECA will be the second negotiated by NZNO since the ERA. The first involved consolidation of five DHBs in the South Island," O’Malley concluded.
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