From the establishment of the profession until the 1970’s the majority of practising physiotherapists were employed in public hospitals. With the advent of ACC in 1974 the number of physiotherapists working in private practice increased dramatically.
From the establishment of the profession until the 1970’s the majority of practising physiotherapists were employed in public hospitals. With the advent of ACC in 1974 the number of physiotherapists working in private practice increased dramatically. Representation from physiotherapists in the public sector has always been a problem. Many hospital physiotherapists are reluctant to involve themselves in Society affairs, or even to become Society members. Executive’s fear in 1983 that hospital physiotherapists would feel that PSA representation was all that was needed has indeed been realised.
Before 1947 there was no national system for fixing salaries - each Hospital Board was a law unto itself. At one time a staff masseur/masseuse received £104 ($208) a year, and the principal of the school retired in 1946 on £400 a year. Procedures for fixing salaries for physiotherapists working in the public sector have had a varied history. They can be divided into a number of different phases.
There were efforts prior to 1947 - in 1938 the Association wrote to Hospital Boards to recommend standardisation of salaries, with no response. Various committees met from then on - it is interesting to note that in 1941 a remit “seeking that higher salaries should be paid to men” was lost. There was talk of forming a union in 1943, which could be disbanded after presenting its case to arbitration. This was never proceeded with. The Hospital Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union attempted to register masseurs in their union. The Society’s lawyer applied to the court for an injunction which was granted and masseurs were withdrawn from the document. In 1946 the Stabilisation Commission approved a schedule which provided basic salaries for physiotherapists, but no agreement for teaching staff at the school. Government set up the Salaries Advisory Committee in 1947 to study salaries and conditions for the para-medical professions in Hospital employment, with four members from the Massage Association to act on the Massage Advisory Committee. The Lythgoe Committee set up in 1964 came up with results which meant physiotherapists were worse off.[1]
In an Editorial to the November 1974 Journal Dorothy Gordon summed all this activity up thus -“Before 1969 the history of salary negotiations showed the predominantly female vocationally - oriented service being exploited to the full. There was no provision for conciliation or tribunal and so employers had authoritarian control”.
The State Services Remuneration and Conditions of Employment Act was passed in 1969 and for the first time brought fair bargaining procedures to the hospital service. Employee groups realised in 1970 that they were not equipped to argue with professionals in the industrial field. As a result the Society of Hospital Employee Organisations (SHEO) was formed. Dorothy Gordon as President of SHEO (1973) pursued the matter with vigour.
There were 335 physiotherapists in hospital employment in 1973, with 165 of them not being Society members.
Government employee groups were at this time joined together as the Combined State Service Organisation (CSSO) and when its council expanded in 1970, the NZSP became a member.
The Salaries Committee of the NZSP; SHEO and CSSO all played a part in looking after the economic interests of physiotherapy employees in the Hospital service in the 1970’s. The Salaries Committee studied and interpreted the provisions of the 1969 Act. SHEO provided service in the formulation, presentation and negotiation of wage negotiations. The CSSO spoke with one voice for thousands of State employees and was concerned with such matters as half-yearly surveys, general wage orders, long service leave and holidays.[2]
The Salaries Committee of the Society negotiated a claim with the Hospital Service Committee (HSC) in 1972, with Jack Turnbull, Executive Director of SHEO, acting as advocate. The result was a “breakthrough” for salaries in the Hospital Service and other disciplines used the physiotherapy scale to improve their own. Dorothy Gordon was President of SHEO in 1973, even in 1974 they felt the Public Service Association (PSA) could try to take SHEO over[3]
Auckland branch acknowledged the work done by Dorothy Gordon & Lesley Askew in 1974 [4]. Successes from their representations were that annual leave was increased to 3 weeks further increasing to 4 after 10 years service; [5], and in 1976 submissions were made for Hospital Boards to pay for practising certificates.
The withdrawal of the nursing group from SHEO in 1976 left the membership too small to support a viable industrial body. Following a ballot of hospital physiotherapists the group withdrew from SHEO and the Society again took on the industrial negotiating role of physiotherapists in the State Service.[6] It was felt in 1979 that each branch should have a SHEO representative on their Committee. There was some conflict between the Hospital sub-group and the Physiotherapy Hospital Employees Assn. Time was set aside at the 1979 National Conference for them to meet[7]
The 1978 claim for a review of salary and conditions of employment affecting all physiotherapists in the State Service resulted in an unacceptable offer in July 1979. The Salaries Committee with a SHEO advocate took the matter to Tribunal but the case was lost. This affected all registered physiotherapists practising in the State Service.[8]
Gay Wood (President) met with the Minister of Health in 1980 and Dorothy Gordon commenced work on a new case with $1,000 set aside to help meet costs. By August 1980 SHEO had nearly fallen apart, and the Health Dept was concerned about negotiating bodies for those groups previously by covered by SHEO[9]. They sent the Society a booklet “Service Planning in NZ in 1980, with a list of material to read before making submission[10].
A Joint Working Party drafted the proposal to pay compensatory allowances to hospital physiotherapists in September 1980[11]. Council decided that the NZSP should maintain its policy of voluntary membership in 1980. Physiotherapists employed in hospitals needed expert assistance either within the Society or through another organisation to assist the Society in industrial negotiations, either of which required considerable financial input on behalf of those members involved.[12] Because of this lack of expertise the Society employed an Industrial Advisor Paul Potiki at the rate of $100 a day when making submissions; and in May 1981 he forwarded a claim to the Director General of Health[13]
[1] Golden Jubilee Enid Anderson page76
[2] NZJP November 1974 Editorial page 3
[3] E/M February 1974
[4] NZJP May 1974 Journal letters to the editor
[5] E/M March 1975
[6] Letter 11 April 1980
[7] E/M 22-11-79
[8] NZJP November 1979 page 15 -
[9] E/M 30 - 8 - 80 -
[10] E/M April 1980
[11] E/M 20 - 9 - 80
[12] A/R 1980
[13] E/M 23-5-81
comments powered by Disqus