On July 1st, DHBs will be disestablished and their functions will be taken over by Health NZ, including the employment of all ASMS members who work in DHBs.
The proposed legislation which establishes Health NZ (the Pae Ora Bill) states that on 1 July every DHB employee becomes an employee of Health NZ “on the same terms and conditions as applied immediately before they became an employee of Health New Zealand.”
That means the protection and transfer of:
- All provisions of the current MECA (either the 2020-21 MECA which is still in force, or any MECA resulting from the current negotiations).
- Any DHB-specific or departmental/service agreements that have been negotiated in addition to the MECA.
- Any individual conditions, such as your MECA salary step and anniversary date.
As an existing employee, you cannot be required to work outside for your former DHB district if that was a condition of your original employment, unless you make a new agreement with Health NZ.
There can also be no change to your salary, any local employment agreements which are in place, or additional arrangements you may have.
Any proposed changes that affect any aspect of your work or the work of your service must be mutually agreed which is what happens now under the MECA.
What you can do
ASMS recommends that ahead of the changeover to Health NZ, members should ensure that any additional terms or conditions of employment they or their service might have, are known and recorded. These are local arrangements, generally negotiated under existing MECA enabling clauses, which may involve remuneration, hours of work, call, roster and/or shift conditions, and include matters such as flexible working arrangements.
