The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists’ (ASMS) chief executive Sarah Dalton told the Herald it was the first time the union had gone on a national strike.
Dalton said members wanted pay rates to increase with the Consumer Price Index, and she was hopeful the strike action would encourage Te Whatu Ora to "think again".
"[The vote] is a significant endorsement of collective action and reflects the extreme frustration of members over Te Whatu Ora and the Government’s refusal to value our workforce, address staff shortages and ensure that salaries maintain their real value against inflation," Dalton said.
ASMS will issue strike notices to the employer, with the first strike happening on September 5, followed by two more.
"The three endorsed strike dates send a strong message to the employer that it needs to improve its current substandard offer," she said.
Some union members would continue working throughout the strikes to continue life-preserving services, she said.
"We expect to be in discussions with Te Whatu Ora from tomorrow over such [life-preserving services] agreements," she said.
‘We’re no longer prepared to take it’ - Dalton
Dalton said 82% of members voted in favour of the strike.
"While we’re losing people to Australia and to the private health system, they’re [Te Whatu Ora] unable to even maintain current pay and conditions for our members," Dalton said.
"We’ve reached a point where we’re no longer prepared to take that.
"It’s been three years - it needs to stop, and they [Te Whatu Ora] need to stop that slide [in pay]."
Dalton said the union was "incredibly" hopeful the strike action would encourage Te Whatu Ora to "think again" about how it was responding to a "health workforce crisis".
"You know, [Te Whatu Ora] had said we’re short 1700 doctors across New Zealand. We think that’s an undercount," she said.
"Cementing in a third or fourth year of real pay cuts [not inflation adjusted] is not the way to go about retaining and recruiting sorely needed specialist doctors and dentists."
She said union members’ decision to strike represented a wider frustration from workers about how hard it was to adequately care for patients.
"We’ve had a lot of correspondence from members saying they’re really disheartened, for example, by having to say to one patient, ‘You need an operation but you can’t have it’.
"Patients have to wait too long to be seen by specialists, and they have to wait far longer than they should because our system is not resourced to cope," she said.
"The workforce gaps and resourcing shortfalls are so significant and ingrained."
Dalton said the strike was "historic", saying it was the first national strike the ASMS had voted for.
