Minister of Health ignores letter from 1700 RMOs

The Minister of Health Dr David Clark has ignored a letter sent to him by more than 1700 RMOs, asking for his support in gaining a fair deal in their dispute with the DHBs.

The letter was sent on January 31. In the intervening period of Ministerial silence, the RMOs (represented by the NZRDA) have been forced to undertake a third 48-hour strike and to issue notice of a fourth strike in an effort to defend their terms and conditions of employment.

“We’re entering a surreal period of employment relations in the NZ health sector,” says David Munro, Senior Advocate, NZRDA. “We’ve had and are having strikes across the board among healthcare workers — doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, anaesthetic technicians, sterile service technicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, ambulance workers and perfusionists — and more seem likely. While the Minister ignores the plight of RMOs and many allied professional groups, he is simultaneously meddling in other areas and preventing agreement being reached, such as with anaesthetic technicians in Lakes and Northland.”

“It’s as if the Minister doesn’t understand where he’s needed and where he’s not, and is somehow managing to get it entirely backwards,” says Mr Munro.

While the RMOs continue to wait for a reply from David Clark, they are balloting for an unprecedented fifth strike.