Audit of Holidays Act compliance underway at three Auckland DHBs Auditors have begun their process to review compliance of the Holidays Act at Auckland, Waitemata and Counties Manukau DHBs, which are in the first tranche…

Electronic time and attendance sheets are to replace paper time sheets at Northland DHB after a national review of Holidays Act breaches highlighted potential problems with the current processes. Northland has volunteered to be one…

Māori midwives are too few and spread too thinly across the country to handle rising Māori birth rates, and say a workforce strategy is desperately needed. Only 9 percent of all midwives are Māori, despite…

MERAS members are excited that interviews for the pay equity process for DHB-employed midwives will be underway from September. MERAS co-leader (industrial) Jill Ovens says midwives have been invited to indicate an interest in being…

Outgoing National Representatives Council (NRC) Chairperson KellyMcConville received Life Membership at the MERAS Annual General Meeting which took place in Auckland on 15 August. Kelly was a founding member of MERAS and has served two…

The MERAS National Representative Council (NRC) Annual General Meeting will take place at 11am on Thursday 15 August at Yarnton Lounge, 14 Erson Ave, Royal Oak, Auckland and is open to all MERAS members.

Midwives employed by DHBs have voted overwhelmingly YES to a pay settlement.

The vote which closed on Friday 12thApril, will see a majority of members gaining increases of up to 17.5% from where they are now ($66,755 a year) to where they will be in August next year ($78,353 a year).

Finally a breakthrough and positive outcome for employed midwives.
Around 1250 midwives employed by DHBs who are members of the midwives’ union, MERAS, are voting on a proposed settlement of their multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) that achieves much of what midwives have been fighting for.

The College is liaising very closely with the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB), Community and Public Health specialists and of course our member midwives.