Simeon Brown: Health Minister says unions are focusing on politics, not patients

Health Minister Simeon Brown's bracing for tension at a meeting with 200 senior doctors, ahead of strike action. 

Their walkout - after rejecting a $160million pay offer - will see 6,300 elective procedures cancelled, and almost 13,000 specialists assessments delayed. 

Brown's slamming what he says is unethical, and a case of politics over patients. 

He told Mike Hosking that the unions haven't been acting in good faith. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the Health Minister today will make one last pitch
to senior doctors to stop the strike. They've rejected one
hundred and sixty million dollar offer. As a result, sixty
three hundred elective procedures will be canceled, twelve six hundred
specialist assessments delayed. So me and Browns with us morning.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning, MIKEE.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
So four separate strikes this year. How much of it
do you think is a real case, a heartfelt case
that they feel hard done by, versus the union's just
don't like a national government.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
My view is this is politics over patients. The Union
is deciding that they are going to disrupt the care
of patients in order to make their point, rather than
actually to sit down and negotiate through an offer. We've
put offer after offer on the table. There's been facilitation.
I've written to the Union and Health New Zealand requesting

(00:49):
both parties to enter into binding arbitration so that an
independent third party can make a decision, and the Union
rejected that offer as well. So my view, this is
politics over patients, and ultimately patients are the ones losing out.
And that's my message that I'm going to be providing
very clearly to the union today and saying call off
the strike and let's actually work through this as adults

(01:12):
rather than simply cancel care for thousands of patients.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Do you think you should change the law and binding
arbitration compulsory after receipt period of steps that don't work well.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
I think that's something we need to consider because clearly
what we're seeing here is a union that isn't actually
willing to sit down and actually work these things through.
And even though we've put that offer on the table
for them to voluntarily enter into binding arbitration, they've rejected that,
which clearly, in my opinion, shows that they're playing politics

(01:41):
here rather than actually being serious and trying to find
a way through it. In my view, it's unethical for
senior doctors the union, for the Senior Doctor's Union to
be to be striking that the unions represents thousands of
doctors who have a critical role in providing healthcare for
New Zealanders, and they are leaders in our health care

(02:03):
space and they should be showing leadership rather than playing
politics with patients' lives. There's many challenges and issues in
our health care system. We should work those through around
the table rather than canceling care for patients, and ultimately
it's patients who are losing out here.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Count to your line, one of your lines in your speech.
Rights come with responsibilities, and right now the strike is
a choice, not a necessity. When would it be a necessity?
I mean necessity is it? Well?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
I think when it comes to our seeing you know
that this union and the members it represents, ultimately these
issues should be resolved around the bargaining table. There may
well be circumstances, but my point here is they have
had offer after offer, They've had the opportunity of binding arbitration.
They've rejected everything along the way. In fact, the last strike,

(02:52):
they rejected the offer and started balloting their members on
exactly the same day to go for another strike. That
does not show good faith. That just showed playing politics
with patients' lives. And there are too many people waiting
on these waiting lists. We've seen good progress getting those
waiting lists down, but if this type of behavior continues,
this union will be responsible for those waiting lists increasing.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Again, how confident are you with the numbers? You keep
quoting the three hundred and forty three thousand, five hundred
plus the six weeks and you'll leave, plus the paid
conference leave, plus access to the fully paid three months
ofb BAT callebrity, six years, five percent base increase over
the sixteen months, additional automatic annual steps increase. How confident
are you on those numbers, because every time you raise
them people say you're making it up.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, that's all on advice from Health New Zealand. The
average earnings of including overtime and allowances for members of
the ASMS union is three hundred forty three five hundred dollars.
In their contractual terms, they get six weeks and you'll
leave every six years. They get a three month sabbatical
which equates effectively another two weeks and you'll leave per year.

(03:56):
They get other allowances for conferences, time to go to conferences,
which I think I think is another two weeks per year.
So there is a significant generosity in the terms and
conditions in the contract here. And ultimately what we're saying
here is to the union put patients first, let's deal

(04:18):
with these issues the right way, and today really is
their last chance to cancel next week's strike and to
get back to actually dealing with this the way it
should be dealt with I.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Wish you well with It's Simmony and Brown who's in
front of the doctors today in Health Minister with us
this morning. I've read his speech and it's going to
be fascinating to see how it goes down and he's
walking into a lines then of course, for.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
More from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news Talks.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
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