“The Labour-Alliance government’s new Employment Relations Bill is good for the health service and health
professionals,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.
Mr Powell was commenting on the select committee’s report back to Parliament on the Bill.
“This new industrial legislation should help reduce the industrial frustration and tension in the health service with
its emphasis on fair play, good faith and providing an even balance in relations between managers and health
professionals.”
“The current Employment Contracts Act is a nasty unfair piece of work based on the theory that an individual hospital
orderly, for example, has the same negotiating influence as the chief executive in charge of a public hospital. This is
absurd nonsense.”
It is pleasing that the select committee has recommended that the key principles behind the Employment Relations Bill
remain because the health service badly needs them,” concluded Mr Powell.
Ian Powell
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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