It's a deal--proposed settlement in primary care.

It's a deal--after nearly 12 months of negotiations, a proposed settlement for primary health care (PHC) nurses and administrative staff has been reached. NZNO and the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) are recommending the deal which, if accepted, will be the country's largest multi-employer collective agreement (MECA), covering around 2500 members in 580 workplaces. Speaking after the historic negotiations, NZNO advocate Chris Wilson said the proposed deal secured a "very significant pay increase moving towards pay parity for nurses, eg for those on the current step 5 of the previous practice nurse MECA it means a 19 percent increase by July next year. It also significantly improves conditions, including five weeks' annual leave after six years' service, and more NZNO provisions, eg union fee deductions," she said.

'Best possible settlement'

"This is the best possible settlement we could have achieved. The MECA is a momentous achievement for NZNO and for the wider union movement, particularly in the private sector." If accepted, it will cover 2500 practice nurses, registered nurses, midwives, clinical coordinating roles, administrative staff and medical receptionists in general practices and accident and medical centres.

NZNO will await the result of the NZMA ratification, which will determine the employer parties to the settlement. NZMA is committed to getting ratification completed as soon as possible and NZNO hopes to begin its ratification by postal ballot as soon as possible in the New Year. After 27 days of negotiations, Wilson is "exhausted and very, very pleased" a proposed settlement has been reached. "I want to particularly acknowledge the huge commitment given from the whole NZNO negotiating team in achieving this settlement."

But the deal, if accepted, would not be the last word. "We will still be seeking pay parity as part of our ongoing strategy," Wilson said.

Negotiations for the "mega-MECA" began last December. A legal wrangle with PHC employers who did not nominate a representative or participate in the MEEA negotiations, despite their employees having voted to be part of the MEEA, marked the start of negotiations. NZNO has now initiated action against those employers and mediation has resolved many of the disputes.

As the negotiations continued, it became clear the original "mega-MECA" would not be achieved. In August Maori and iwi PHC employers indicated they wanted a separate MECA for their NZNO members. Wilson said a Maori and iwi health provider MECA would recognise the different ways of working within these providers, while providing employees with protection. NZNO's members working for Maori and iwi providers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a separate MECA. Negotiations for this MECA are expected to begin in February.

There will now be three collective agreements in the PHC sector: the major MECA covering 2500 members; the MECA covering more than 500 members in around 100 Maori and iwi health providers; and a single employer collective agreement (SECA) covering 56 members working for telenursing service, McKessons New Zealand Ltd. Members at McKessons received pay increases in September which met the district health board MECA range of rates. NZNO wants further increases over the term of the agreement, likely to be two years, and the employer is currently considering an NZNO proposal. Wilson hopes to have a response from the employer before Christmas.