It has been another busy few months for the STONZ team. Firstly, a big thank you again to those who completed the member negotiations survey, the team has been working through the over 200+ pages of your feedback; and the responses will be invaluable to assist and support our upcoming negotiations. Be sure to review the high-level summary of the main themes from the survey up on the STONZ blog now.
In part due to the current pressures on the system and the increasing numbers of RMO & SMO vacancies, the team have been working with regions and at a local level to support roster compliance and solutions as well as general compliance with the STONZ agreement. For us to be able to assist with SECA compliance issues, we need to be aware of them, so please continue to send through your queries to the support team.
Quick Project updates:
Work on the Fatigue working group, which has been a collective effort between Massey sleep clinic, Te Whatu Ora and the unions has been progressing and are at the stage of releasing recommendations to help address some of the ongoing fatigue issues of the health workforce.
STONZ has also been actively engaging in discussions around outsourcing in procedural specialties and STONZ has now had two initial meetings with Te Whatu Ora and Colleges to discuss potential solutions and next steps.
The Holidays Act remediation project, we have been told that our members currently employed in the Auckland region will be among the first to receive the payments, with other regions to follow in the coming months. We urge our members to keep an eye out for correspondence from your district. Additionally, STONZ is working on a FAQ document, answering RMO specific questions, so keep an eye out for that.
Remuneration Model Project: It was clear from the survey that the current RMO pay model needs work with 40% of respondents noting that the current model is not transparent and is difficult to understand. Only 35% of respondents stated that you feel fairly remunerated for the work you do so we will continue to work on this project, with the plan to negotiate changes to the model during bargaining.
We know that given the higher number of RMO vacancies throughout the country, there are more instances of cross cover occurring, including out of hours cross cover. We know that this is not SECA compliant, which is why we need your help! The unions and Te Whatu Ora are meeting regularly to work through where cross cover is occurring and support solutions for the longer term. For us to be able to have informed discussion we need accurate and up to date information. To aid this we have created a cross cover reporting form on our website where instances of cross cover and out of hours cross cover can be reported anonymously. We encourage you to submit these breaches HERE.
Lastly, we would like to remind all members to mark their calendars for the upcoming AGM on the 24th August via zoom. The AGM provides a valuable opportunity to share insights and discuss important matters that have an impact on our members. Save the date and we look forward to see you there!
We know how tough it is at the moment, so thank you for your continued mahi and dedication to supporting our communities and patients.
Ngā manaakitanga,
The STONZ Team