Senior Medical And Dental Officers 24-hour Strike In Te Tai Tokerau

Senior medical and dental officers who are members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists - Toi Mata Hauora (ASMS) and are employed in the Te Tai Tokerau district of Health New Zealand will be on strike for 24 hours from 10.00am Wednesday 18 June until 10.00am Thursday 19 June.

During that time and as required ASMS members will ensure life preserving services are maintained across the region’s four hospital sites in Whangarei, Dargaville, Kaitaia and Bay of Islands.

ASMS has 240 members in the Te Tai Tokerau district.

Members voted 83 per cent in favour of the strike.

On Tuesday 17 June at 6pm in the Calfer Suite of Forum North in Whangārei ASMS and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation are hosting a public meeting "Your Health System in Crisis" to give members of the public a chance to hear from doctors and nurses about what is really happening in their hospital.

At 10am on Wednesday 18 June ASMS members will stage a mass walk out from Whangārei Hospital and picket on the corner of Maunu and Hospital Rds. There will also be a picket outside Kaitaia Hospital on Redan Rd. Both pickets will run for forty-five minutes.

This district strike is part of an ongoing industrial dispute.

The collective employment agreement between ASMS and Health New Zealand expired in August 2024. Health New Zealand’s pay offer is well below CPI . The parties are still far apart and are currently in facilitated bargaining. Facilitated bargaining is a confidential process.

On 1 May ASMS members undertook a 24-hour nationwide strike. And on 28 May ASMS members in Tairāwhiti held a 24-hour district strike.

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