Members to vote on PHC Meca next month.

NZNO's primary health care (PHC) members will vote on the PHI: Multi-employer Collective Agreement (MECA) next month. The MECA was agreed last month but NZNO has had to wait until New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) members ratified the agreement. The NZMA's 67 percent threshold has been reached and now NZNO will enter "serious negotiations" with those employers who did not ratify the deal. This has to occur before NZNO members can vote on the MECA.

NZNO advocate Chris Wilson said she was very pleased so many employers had ratified the deal. "It shows our campaign for nurses in the sector to receive a reasonable pay increase has been successful. We would like to acknowledge those employers who have realised that to retain qualified staff they must make those adjustments."

NZNO will now make a determined effort to negotiate with employers who have either voted against the MECA or who have not yet ratified it. "We believe a lack of knowledge and information may be behind some employers' decisions. We have already talked with some who had not realised we have included some of the minimum obligations contained in the Employment Relations Act in the MECA and these do not constitute a substantial change from the former practice nurse collective," Wilson said. These minimum obligations include the management of change clause and NZNO's right of entry clause. "Inability to pay does not appear to have surfaced as the key issue for employers," Wilson said.

NZNO will approach the employers to set up negotiations and identify their concerns about the MECA. "We will be making every endeavour to get those employers in the MECA. This will be a significant project for NZNO and we will have to ensure staff resources are used most effectively." NZNO members at more Maori and iwi health provider sites have to be balloted on whether they support a Maori and iwi PHC MECA, before bargaining for such a MECA can be initiated. Members in around 100 sites have already been balloted but Wilson said further balloting was necessary to ensure NZNO members in all these workplaces had the opportunity to decide whether they wanted to be involved in the MECA. NZNO has between 400 and 450 members in Maori and iwi provider workplaces. Balloting these members would be "a significant logistical exercise", particularly accessing the correct legal entity of each provider. "This information is vital when initiating bargaining and requires some extra resources," Wilson said. NZNO has committed project funding for delegate work on recruitment. Manny Down will undertake this work in the Central region.

Once the balloting has been completed, those members covered by the MECA will receive a postal ballot seeking endorsement of a new negotiating team, the procedure for reaching a settlement and details of the wages and conditions which will form the claim.

The Maori and iwi provider employers involved in the original PHC MECA have committed to the progress in those negotiations and to pay parity. Wilson hopes to initiate bargaining for this MECA next month.