Doctors vote to participate in DHB negotiations

“Midcental senior doctors vote to participate in national district health board collective agreement negotiations”

“Senior doctors employed by the MidCentral District Health Board have overwhelmingly voted to participate in national collective agreement negotiations with district health boards that are currently underway,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.

Negotiations commenced in late April and will resume on 11-12 June. To date senior doctors in 17 out of the 21 district health boards have voted with majorities of between 75-100% to participate in the national negotiations with a further four ballots yet to be held. The timing of ballots is determined by the expiry dates of existing single DHB collective agreements.

“The result could not have been much stronger with 100% voting in favour of participating in the national negotiations. About 79% of senior doctors participated in the secret postal ballot.”

“The overwhelming vote was most likely influenced by the fact that in general conditions of employment for senior doctors in MidCentral are poor compared with most other district health boards,” concluded Mr Powell.

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