The union representing resident doctors can now negotiate separate collective agreements at three Auckland district health boards (DHBs) after the Employment Court ruled its bargaining initiation notices were valid.
The Resident Doctors Association (RDA), which represents doctors from their last year of undergraduate training through to the completion of vocational training, issued notices to all 21 DHBs in November.
The notices sought to split the existing national multi-employer collective agreement into three separate agreements for the metropolitan Auckland DHBs, and a new collective agreement for the rest of New Zealand.
District Health Boards New Zealand (DHBNZ) at the time sought clarification of the notices' validity in the Employment Court at Wellington.
The court subsequently ruled the notices were valid, allowing negotiations between the two parties to proceed.
"We're looking forward to hearing the details of the ruling and moving forward in the negotiation process with the RDA," DHBNZ negotiating team spokeswoman Karen Roach said.
"Resident medical officers are a highly valued part of our national medical workforce and DHBs are committed to encouraging their ongoing training."
