Board Told - Talk Now, Or Face Consequences

“NUPE is calling on the Health Board to hold urgent bargaining talks this week before our members meet at stop work meetings starting 8 March,” said Nadine Marshall, Secretary of the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) today. Last week, NUPE gave the Board the required two weeks notice of the meetings for its approximately 500 mental health and other workers in the CDHB.

“Our members are angry that the Board is delaying meeting with NUPE,” said Nadine Marshall. “The Board is using a technicality that the split up of the four union Multi Union Collective Agreement (MUCA), covering all workers in Hillmorton Hospital and other mental health worksites plus workers in Older Persons’ Health and Oral Health requires NUPE to start bargaining again.”

“NUPE however wrote to the CDHB on 19 February requesting that the suspended bargaining reconvene. Our members see the reasons used by the Board as spurious given talks have already taken place with two of the Unions and we are the Union with the most members involved,” said Nadine Marshall.

“The response from the Board seems punitive,“ said Nadine Marshall. “The Board needs to recall its HR Manager (Keith Moran) who is declining to talk because he is off on leave to the 9th March. It is incomprehensible anyway that the Board does not have a representative apart from Keith Moran to talk to us.”

“If we have to report to our members next week without any talks taking place, they will see this as highly provocative,” said Nadine Marshall. “NUPE delegates meet on Monday evening to decide on resolutions for the stopworks.”

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