Celebrating our fair pay anniversary: as we mark the first anniversary of the historic multi-employer collective agreement for public sector health workers, it is good to take stock of the achievements to date.

This month we celebrate the first anniversary of our historic "Fair Pay" settlement in the public sector. On October 7 2004, a pay agreement for most members covered by the district health board (DHB) multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) was achieved. What better time than now to reflect on the journey so far?

Format ratification of the MECA was achieved at the end of February 2005. Agreement was subsequently reached on a bargaining fees arrangement. This meant non members would have to pay a fee, of slightly less than the old NZNO subscription, to access the MECA provisions. This was a first for NZNO and has brought a substantial amount of money into the organisation, money that is used for the ongoing work associated with implementing the MECA.

As well as bringing together 15 collective agreements, the new MECA saw at least four key working parties established: professional development recognition programmes (PDRPs); health care assistant/hospital aid (HCA/HA) merit step criteria; senior nurses'/midwives' scoping; and the safe staffing/health workplaces' inquiry. Two smaller working parties related to the standardisation of provisions for duty authorised officers (DAOs) and midwives followed.

Achieving a PDRP national framework

The first working party involved aligning the existing PDRPs against a national framework. Delegates across the 21 DHBs participated, working with NZNO staff and DHB representatives. Achieving nationally consistent criteria for practice Levels and access to the new agreement payments for each DHB was no mean feat. A number of DHBs had no programme in place, and some groups of members, including midwives, enrolled nurses and registered obstetric nurses, had no criteria. The working party also achieved a whole new national framework for midwives. The work was competed by the beginning of July, with delegates and NZNO staff involved in monitoring the consistency of access for members to both the levels of practice and the payments.

The second working party, the HCA/HA merit step criteria, also completed its work by July 1, with ratification and implementation taking until now to be finalised. However, for those affected, provided the application process is followed, backdating to July 1 is available. The task was to create nationally consistent criteria and associated processes for the two agreed merit steps. The process is being produced in an-easy-to-follow kit which should assist members wanting to access the merit steps. Both the merit step criteria for HCA/HA members and the PDRP process and payments are now nationally consistent and transportable across the 21 DHBs.

Senior nurses'/midwives' scoping party

The work of the senior nurses'/midwives' scoping party has taken longer than expected, although perhaps our expectations were unrealistic. When scoping took place regionally, that work sometimes took more than 18 months to complete, whereas we had set a timeframe of around four months to achieve a national process.

The work has involved evaluating around 1200 senior nurse/midwife and community positions using the Compers Job Evaluation Tool. Those positions all received scores based on such factors as rote complexity, influence on the organisation and level of interaction with others. The working party of five regional representatives, NZNO staff and DHB representatives worked extremely hard to complete the work by July 1. As it turned out, we were unable to reach agreement with the DHBs on what levels on the new scale the scoped positions should be positioned. We sought the assistance of the Mediation Service to help resolve the areas of disagreement. Late last month, we reached a joint proposal with the DHBs, which now awaits ratification by all parties. The working party representatives believe the work, including the back payment of outstanding pay increases, will be completed before Christmas. This will mark another major step forward in the journey towards national consistency and parity.

Safe staffing committee visits workplaces

The safe staffing and healthy workplaces' committee of inquiry, chaired by Diana Crossan, began its work in late April. Over the last six weeks, committee members have visited all 21 DHBs, giving members the opportunity to identify the issues and some possible solutions. The feedback from members will be incorporated into a final report, due to be completed by March 2006. The committee's final recommendations will be presented jointly to Government. If the recommendations require additional funding to be implemented, a joint approach will be made, as agreed under the terms of the MECA. The working party is very aware of the need to find tangible and sustainable solutions that will benefit members and patients.

The other two working parties for the rationalisation of midwifery and DAO provisions will probably begin in early 2006. Until then, current provisions continue.

The national DHB MECA one year on should be seen as a huge work in progress. There have been major improvements in the application and standardisation of terms and conditions nationally, which have been built on the agreements reached last year. To date, we have managed to minimise variations to the MECA. This means, as we contemplate next year's negotiations, we will not have to deal with the disparities that existed before the first MECA negotiations began.

A positive by-product of the national MECA has been the establishment of the national committee of workplace delegates. This group of elected representatives acts as a reference group throughout the process. They are also involved in initial discussions on the strategy for negotiating the next MECA. It is gratifying to see that all this work is having a positive flow-on effect for a number of NZNO members and other workers in the private sector.

NZNO industrial adviser Glenda Alexander