Doctors walked off the job at five Wellington GP practices

Doctors walked off the job at five Wellington GP practices – more strikes planned

Doctors at five Wellington general practices walked off the job for an hour this morning over the exclusion of their dentist colleagues from the collective employment agreement covering doctors.

“We understand that no doctors were on duty for an hour from 9am today as part of a planned series of rolling stoppages,” says Lloyd Woods, Senior Industrial Officer at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

Twenty-one doctors at Iwi health provider practices in Porirua, Cannons Creek, Titahi Bay and Newtown were due to take part in what is believed to be the first ever strike action by New Zealand general practitioners.

Mr Woods says another one-hour strike is planned for 9am on Monday 10 December, with further stoppages scheduled for 13, 18 and 19 December, followed by a full-day strike on Christmas Eve.

“All of this could be avoided if their employer Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, which runs Ora Toa Health, allowed its dentists to join the collective agreement that covers its doctors, recognising that they are part of the same medical team.

“It’s a simple, sensible request and it seems really unfair to doctors at these practices that the dental experts they work with are being kept out of their agreement.”

ENDS

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