The application for an urgent injunction will be heard in the Employment Court in Wellington next Thursday, and a decision is expected the next day.
Junior doctors went on strike for 48 hours last month, and when the talks broke down again, their union issued notice of a 48-hour strike from November 23.
New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association national secretary Dr Deborah Powell said the legal action could have the unintended effect of pushing the strike into the busy Christmas holiday period.
"We had hoped we would have safer rosters agreed to before the graduating class of 2016 started working on the wards. We do not want yet another year of doctors to become worn out and worn down by fatigue," Dr Powell said.
In a media statement, the DHBs said the union had included medical students in the ballot to try to boost numbers.
"The DHBs are seriously concerned for medical students who are due to start their formal paid training in DHBs the week after the strike.
"Many of the students will miss out on the compulsory orientation the week of the action if the current strike notices are deemed to be valid," the DHBs’ statement says.
The DHBs have also questioned the single ballot used to decide on the industrial action.
The circumstances of junior doctors in individual DHBs are different, the DHBs’ statement says.Julie Patterson, lead chief executive for the DHBs’ employment relations programme, said a single ballot meant the "tail could wag the dog".
"The union seems unconcerned about the significant impact the strike will have on its own membership, let alone the general public.
"When the union is ready to abandon an industrial campaign that is putting its own members at significant disadvantage and come back to the bargaining table, then the DHB team will be only too ready to continue negotiations," Mrs Patterson said.
The union and the DHBs have been unable to agree on a deal that addresses concerns over doctor fatigue and unsafe working hours.
