Pandemic - Journal April 2020 - APEX
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
The Pandemic
Journal
April 2020
Contents
1
History Of Pandemics
2
You Want me to do What?!!
3
Patients Before Profits:
Unions Respond to Covid-19
4
Hazard Pay
5
Reaping the Whirlwind:
Understaffed Rosters Come Home to Roost
6
Mitigation and Covid-19
7
Rising Unemployment
8
APEX Operations Under Lockdown
9
Social Scientists Scramble to Study
Pandemic, in Real Time
10
US Coronavirus Crisis Shows the Benefit
of a Universal Health System
Covid-19 is certainly the first
pandemic in decades that has
hit New Zealand hard, yes SARS
and Swine Flu were bad, but
we were not locked down nor
suffered as many deaths in
New Zealand as we have with
Pandemics this Covid-19 pandemic. Yes,
History of
it’s scary - but looking back it’s
important to remember that
this is not the first pandemic
we have faced and survived.
Infectious diseases follow
people, and as humans have
spread across the world, so
have pandemics. Even with the
technology, scientific knowledge
and medical treatment the
21st century possesses, we
are not immune from disease,
and outbreaks are constant.
Since the inception of mankind,
disease and infection have
been an issue, however it was
not until agrarian communities
were formed and civilisation
grew that the magnitude
of diseases increased and
formed what we now know as
epidemics and pandemics.
As populations increases and
formed communities with trade
routes between cities with
different ecologies and cultures,
so too did the rate of disease.
Some of the major pandemics that have occurred over time include:
Name Date Type of Disease Death toll
Antonine Plague 165-180 Smallpox or Measles 5M
Justinian Plague 541-542 Yersina pestis bacte- 1M
ria from rats and fleas
Black Death 1347-1351 Yersina pestis bacte- 200M
ria from rats and fleas
New World Smallpox 1520-onwars Variola major virus 56M
outbreak
Spanish Flu 1918-1919 H1N1 Virus/Pigs 40-50M
HIV/AIDS 1981-Present Virus/Chimpanzees 25-35M
COVID-19 2019-Present Coronavirus - Bats 125,000 +
Whilst the actual number of pandemics to occur over history is
unknown, what is clear is the knowledge humankind has gained from
every occurrence:
• we know all pandemics have a gradual decline in the number of
deaths over time.
• we know that disease is transported by animals and people
• we know to quarantine infected people.
• we know how to track the infectiousness of the disease and;
• we know that pandemics are not caused by the wrath of God
Punishment by God?
It’s a tale as old as time - where there is widespread disease, there
are sinners who are incurring the divine judgement of God. Many
ancient societies plagued by illness rather unscientifically believed this
perception, and it often led to disastrous outcomes and cost millions of
lives. In the case of Justinian’s Plague, the Byzantium scholar Procopius
of Caesarea traced the origins of the bubonic plague to land and sea
trade routes from India and China.
Despite this clear correlation of disease to travel, Procopius declared the
cause of the disease to be the wrath of god on the Emperor Justinian for
his evil doings.
Luckily humanity seems to have move on from such nonsense and now
collates a response to pandemics as they arise, a lesson learnt at the
cost of millions of lives.
Reducing the spread. History shows that recent In this day and age, we now pandemics have focused on focus on reducing the spread of reducing the spread of the disease and developing disease, with its greatest tactic a cure. However as global being the practice of quarantine. populations rise, and our societies Quarantining infectious people or become more multi-cultural we travellers before entering a city are faced with new viruses that are was first developed in the 14th spread at an unprecedented rate. century to protect Italian coastal cities from the “Black Death” that was spreading across Europe. This is not our first pandemic and Sailors traveling from infected it will not be our last. However as cities were required to stay at social distancing continues, we anchor for 40 days before they can take solace in our other 21st were allowed to enter the city, century inventions such as the as we all know this tactic is internet to stay socially still used today and proves connected, Netflix and delivered extremely successful, but only to your door wine. when quarantine laws are followed.
You Want me to
do What...?!!
Actual pandemic treatments through history.
TB hospitals they are [there] to have
their health restored. With
During the late 19th century, their sunburnt faces and
tuberculosis was the cause of well - nourished bodies, they
10% of all deaths in New Zealand. look to be in perfect physical
The Maori population was more condition.
vulnerable as it affected them 10
times more than non-Maori. The
best treatment for tuberculosis
and other lung diseases was
“One of the
then thought to be cold, clean main lessons we
mountain air, sunlight, exercise learnt from the
and good nutrition which then Spanish Flu was
caused many sanatoriums to
be built on higher grounds. the importance
Sanitoriums were also effective of having an
by keeping patients in isolation early and longer
away from communities and isolation period.
provided progressive public heath
workers a controlled medical When the flu
environment where experimental cases began to
cures could be administered, decline, many
and patient recovery monitored.
went back to
work and public
A brochure on Central Otago gatherings
sanatorium said: “The high resumed which
percentage of sunshine and the
cheerful surroundings appear to
then contributed
work wonders with the patients, to the second
and it is not easy to realise that wave..”By the 1930s, interest and bad air. Those who contracted
enthusiasm in this form of the plague were discouraged
treatment diminished and was from bathing as it was thought
replaced by surgery and then by that bathing opened up
effective anti-tuberculosis drugs. pores and let more bad air in,
making the disease worse.
A U.S engineer, Flavius Earl
Loudy, proposed a more creative
solution which was to quarantine
the sick in floating hospitals
called “Aerial Sanatoria”. This
solution, although far-fetched,
would have provided the
high-altitude air and plenty of
sunshine needed for treatment.
In Loudy’s piece titled An Aerial
Sanitorium, he voiced his vision
as: “Food supplies, as well as
people, are conveyed to and
from the airship by means of an
electric hoist in the forward car
or cabin. Patients who cannot
stand the trip up to the airship
can be carried up by an airplane
ambulance… the airplane
landing on or hopping off from
the giant upper deck easily.”
Black death
There were many strange theories
as to what caused the plague
before the Yersinia pestis virus This made perfumes and
was discovered. Many believed aromatherapy popular as people
that the Black Death was the were told to carry fragrant flowers
result of pockets of “bad air” or and herbs with them to prevent
miasma, which was released the disease. Plague doctors
from earthquakes; while others wore a beak-like mask filled with
believed that the alignment of aromatics to protect them from
Saturn, Mars and Jupiter were the pungent air which became an
unfavourable which caused the iconic symbol of the Black Death.With the many strange theories included early and sustained
of the cause of disease came implementation of social
strange remedies and cures. distancing. The flu also caused
To drive out the bad smells, New Zealand to build a public
some treatments involved using health system for pandemics
dung and urine which would under the Health Act 1920.
have helped spread the disease
rather than help patients recover.
Due to the war, there was a
shortage of healthcare workers
Spanish Flu and relief efforts were mainly
reliant on volunteers. This
Despite the name, the Spanish highlighted the need to flatten the
Flu didn’t originate from Spain; curve for medical professionals
however, it was the country that to be able to cope with the
first reported the outbreak during influx. The scale of the pandemic
World War I as it was one of the overwhelmed hospitals, medical
few countries that remained supplies ran low, hospitals
neutral. Other allied countries became full and temporary
had censors to cover up news wards were set up in church
of the flu to keep morale high. halls, schools, hotels and even
under racecourse grandstands.
Infected soldiers may have
contributed to the spread of the A treatment for the flu was the
disease to other crowded camps inhalation of zinc sulphate mist.
across the country and overseas. Inhalers were mass produced
When the pandemic peaked, New by the Railways Department and
Zealand responded by practicing many inhalation centres were
social distancing and cancelling installed in public buildings
public events. One of the main all around the country. We
lessons we learnt from the now know that the treatment
Spanish Flu was the importance was ineffective and may have
of having an early and longer heightened the risk of contagion
isolation period. When the flu by bringing people together. The
cases began to decline, many strong mixture also inflamed the
went back to work and public nasal tissue, making the person
gatherings resumed which then more susceptible to the flu.
contributed in the second wave.
An American study found that
the most successful approaches
to containing the influenzaPatients Before Profits
Unions respond
Patients
to Covid 19What lies beneath the “we are will count its cash; we’ll count
all in this together” slogans? the dead.” No one then knew how
quickly that would become true.
What is unsaid when we ask Throughout the response, both
people to “Unite against nationally and internationally we
Covid19”? have seen trade unions respond
in the best interests of their
Who profits and who is poisoned members safety and the public
during a pandemic? health. Pushing to ensure non-
essential businesses close and
As the superrich fly on private adequate personal protective
jets into Queenstown airport equipment (PPE) be provided to
before being chauffeured essential workers.
to subterranean bunkers
to ensconce themselves in
their doomsday shelters, the A strike for everyone
lengthening queues outside
supermarkets sweltering One of the first ways unions
in the sun, or at work, in have responded to Covid-19 is
understaffed wards, without the by implementing the necessary
proper protective equipment. closures of non-essential
Meanwhile the Minister of business when governments
Health goes for a long, long or corporations have dragged
walk on a deserted beach. their heels. In the hard hit Italian
region of Lombardy, three steel
and chemical workers’ union
A crisis throws everything into took strike action on March 25
stark relief, as decades of history to close non-essential factories.
happen in the space of weeks. Other Italian unions broadened
As the top European scientist strike action across the country,
noted in his resignation letter and raised the question over
to the European Commission, whether a needless death at
“In time of emergencies work caused by Covid-19 should
people, and institutions, revert be regarded as a homicide.
to their deepest nature and
reveal their true character.”
Italy also was also the first
place we saw Amazon workers
In France, underpaid hospital take concerted action over their
workers on strike at 203 employer’s failure to provide PPE,
emergency departments across even after workers were testing
the country in 2019 had protested positive to Covid-19.
on the streets in December under
a banner that read, “The stateIn France, underpaid
hospital workers
on strike at
203 emergency
departments across
the country in 2019
had protested on the
streets in December
under a banner that
read, “The state will
count its cash; we’ll
count the dead.”
No one then knew
how quickly that
would become true...So quick was the response of actually delivering it. As political
Italian unions and the spread editor for the New Zealand
of wildcat strikes, it forced the Herald Audrey Young wrote,
Italian government to implement
the lockdowns that are “The most important system
necessary to stop the spread of from here on is the one that
the virus. Prior to the strikes the quickly conveys practical
Government had deemed nearly problems on the ground to
60% of the country’s workforce the people with power to fix it.
‘essential’.
To that end, unions have been
brilliant. Unions should be
As Covid spread across the deemed to be an essential
world so too did the union service in times like this.
response, with workers in
Spain taking strike action to Most union officials are working
close non-essential business. from home but they have direct
In the United States grocery connections to the front line
delivery workers for Amazon workers such as nurses, hospital
and Instacart have also taken cleaners, aged care workers,
strike action to demand better and home support services.
safety measures, improvements
in working conditions and higher In recent days they have
pay. And in Auckland, workers done a service not just to
at plastics factory Sistema their members but to the
were originally told they were public in exposing supply
classed as ‘essential’ by the problems especially of personal
employer, but workers went protective equipment (PPE).”
out on strike and eventually
Worksafe closed the factory.
It’s obviously not just New
Zealand where unions have been
Taking action on PPE raising concerns over PPE. At
the end of March, 4000 nurses
By far the most prominent in Papua New Guinea went on
role unions have played in the strike for a day to raise their
response, is by demanding, concerns about the lack of PPE
personal protective equipment and medical supplies and in India,
be provided to essential workers at one hospital protested
workers, and by highlighting the fact that they had no PPE in
the disconnect between those their emergency departments.
co-ordinating the response
of health services and thoseIn the United States nurses in the disconnect between health
New York have taken action to authorities and those actually
demand more PPE and prison delivering the care, “The big
officers are preparing a class struggle right now is about N95
action against the Federal masks, and how our country
Government for hazard pay just can’t supply this crucial
after some of them contracted item. [The CDC] used to say
Covid-19 when transferring COVID-19 was an airborne
patients without being provided disease that necessitated use
PPE. of N95 masks. That was a
science-based assessment.
Then they lowered it because of
the shortage, to let hospitals and
local governments off the hook.”
“Essentiality” and
“Priority”
If, as many predict, New
Zealanders escape the health
effects of the pandemic relatively
untouched, the economy is likely
to be almost completely reshaped
as international tourism recedes
until a vaccine arrives in 12-18
months. The consequent rises
in unemployment and pressure
on government budgets is
going to have a handbrake
A healthcare worker at the effect on wage growth.
Montefiore Medical Center
Moses Campus in New York
City holds a sign during a The contradiction is that for
protest demanding N95 masks health workers - never was so
and other critical PPE to handle much owed by so many to so
patients during the outbreak of few. And although the recent
coronavirus disease [Brendan settlement of ASMS for a one
Mcdermid/Reuters], April 2020. year agreement and 1.9% wage
increase suggests the new
One New York emergency normal may be constrained wage
department nurse involved in growth, whether or not nurses
the protests has observed of accept this if offered similarFrench hospital workers on strike: “Exhausted carers equals patients
in danger”
when their bargaining comes retain and recruit enough locally
up again in a couple of months’ trained professionals into our
time will be interesting to see. medical laboratory, pharmacy,
Funnily enough no one yet anaesthetic workforces will
seems to be suggesting the large have to be dealt with, so too the
supermarkets return their excess lack of clinical leadership in our
profits to the government to help over-managed but under-led
pay for the urgent investment hospitals.
needed in health, to allow
operational readiness to respond
beyond the lockdown. Indeed, the need has never been
greater, not least because it is
only a matter of time before the
Eventually the contradiction next health emergency is upon
between healthcare being us. In weeks and months to come
“essential” but investment in uniting against Covid19 requires
our workforce development not more than just washing hands
being a “priority” will need to and walking alone, it will require
be resolved. The need for us to uniting for and demanding
workforce development.Hazard pay is what it sounds
like. Employers pay workers
more on the expectation that the
worker will then complete work
that endangers their health and
safety. The rationale behind it is
to get people into undesirable and
dangerous jobs that most people
will avoid to protect themselves.
As the number of Covid-19
deaths in the United States rises
and the low wages of frontline
workers are put in the spotlight,
there have been increasing calls
Hazard
for hazard pay for this group.
These calls have crossed the
Atlantic and now a number of
petitions are circulating in New
Zealand demanding hazard pay
Pay
for frontline healthcare workers.
Like many US imports, hazard
pay would be detrimental to
New Zealand. That is not to
say healthcare workers should
not get paid more that they
currently do. The Covid-19
crisis has highlighted how
integral you are to the safety
of the general population, but
a pay increase on salary is
entirely different to hazard pay.
Employers do not offer hazard
pay as a thank you to workers
putting themselves in dangerous
positions. While this lack of
selfless generosity on the part of
employers will come as a shockto many, what hazard pay be better spent increasing the
actually does is act as a way for safety of workers in the health
employers to buy their way out sector. Hazard pay undermines
of health and safety obligations the conditions workers have
and put workers in increasingly struggled for and nothing should
dangerous positions while doing allow employers to buy their
nothing to make conditions way out of these protections.
safer. There is the expectation
that if a worker is being paid
more, they are accepting the The Health and Safety at Work
risks associated with the Act stipulates employers are
work and nothing needs to be responsible for maintaining the
done to mitigate these risks. health and safety of employees
in the workplace. To allow
them to pay more to put you at
“Hazard pay ever - increasing risk enables
undermines them to ignore this responsibility.
the conditions
workers have
Unions have been advocating
struggled for and for PPE, safer rosters, and better
nothing should conditions for workers facing
allow employers the brunt of the Covid threat. The
to buy their way focus needs to be on solidifying
these protections and pushing
out of these for stronger health and safety
protections.” provisions for those most at risk.
You need to have the right to Workers in hazardous conditions
say no to doing work that you should be paid more as those at
believe is dangerous. While the forefront of the pandemic are
taking hazard pay doesn’t underappreciated and underpaid.
deprive you of this outright, it This should be part of a wider
makes it much harder to take a conversation about increased
principled stance on the issue. wages. It shouldn’t be left to a
Whether consciously or not, temporary top up payment. While
employers will be less amenable more money in your pocket for
to health and safety complaints a few weeks might be nice, it
if they believe they are paying is no substitute for adequate
you to accept these conditions. PPE and health and safety
Any money that would potentially protections in the workplace.
be used for hazard pay wouldReaping the
Whirlwind
understaffed rosters come home to roost
As the likes of Air New vulnerable, but what really lies at
Zealand and Sky City announce the root of this praise? Why are
inexplicable amounts of our health providers being posed
lay-offs due to insufficient with 12 hour shifts and 50 hour
workloads, the Health Sector working weeks when all
puts out a call to arms for the rostering and fatigue experts say
retired or retrained workforce to otherwise?
fill the many, MANY vacancies.
The answer is quite simple, years
and years of understaffed rosters
“Thanks for volunteering to do are finally coming home to roost.
the weekend shift Jane”, “thanks
for working late last night John”.
What’s that old saying? If you
put a frog in gradually heated
These are just some of the water, it won’t realise its being
phrases becoming all too boiled to death? From SMOs
familiar in the health sector as our to Orderlies, years of poor
health providers are praised for working facilities, poor wages
“stepping up” and “going that and an underappreciation of the
extra mile” in this Covid-19 world. workforces has led to distinct
and historical shortages that
has gradually become the norm.
Yes, our health practitioners are Well Covid-19 has turned up
the heroes of this pandemic, the heat and the health sector
putting their health and the is only now realising its boiling.
health of their “bubble” at risk
to care for New Zealand’s mostWhilst public health services more choose to not become a
may be the best example of medical laboratory worker
chronic under investment being altogether. This is not just a
demonstrated by the current problem in the laboratory
crisis, laboratory workers are workforce, this stems to all
no less an easy example of health workforces and speaks
systematic underfunding and to our governments reliance on
understaffing in the health overseas workers to fill our
sector. During this pandemic, vacancies rather than investing in
the New Zealand Laboratory a sufficient homegrown
workforce has processed an workforce.
unprecedented 2000+ samples
a day across 8 laboratories and
Well now the boarders are
has been praised by the Prime
closed and our tap into the
Minister for “working 24/7
international workforce will run
tirelessly to ensure we know the
dry for 12-18 months, whilst so
true scale of the outbreak, and to
many of our current international
ensure those with Covid-19 know,
workers understandably seek to
and get the appropriate care”.
return home. As hospitals are at
essential services only and the
This workforce is also plagued Covid-19 curve is flattening, we
with enormous vacancies are not in a staffing crisis….. yet,
stemming, insufficient laboratory however it has all the ingredients
equipment and a historical if the situation escalates.
undervaluation by the public
sector. Laboratory workers in the
public sector will see over 32% However, any kind of crisis can
of its workforce reach retirement be good - it wakes us up to
age within the next 10 years of our problems. The question is
which new graduates will only whether the government will
replace 10%. It’s easy to see why… arise from its sleepy slumber and
realise what our health
providers are worth and make the
What would a new graduate do retaining and recruitment of
when faced with the choice of locally trained professionals a
the understaffed public sector priority when we move to
or the mildly better private labs? normalcy and a post-covid world.
Most choose private, but evenMitigation and
Covid –19
COVID-19 has well and truly Flattening the curve
taken over the globe. With the
rapid transmission and infection New Zealand initially based
rates, the Coronavirus has the its pandemic planning on the
potential to infect an mitigation model which focuses
estimated 60% of the world’s on implementing measures to
population within the next 2 flatten the curve. These
years. The world has asked strategies aim to control a
collectively how can we mitigate pandemic by creating herd
transmission? immunity so that health care
systems are not overwhelmed.
However, these strategies
Initially New Zealanders moved culminate a high-risk
to flatten the curve through factor as they are uncertain to
restricting social interaction adequately control transmission,
and instigating better hygiene and potentially take years to work.
policies. However, with the rapidly We saw these measures with
changing global situation, New the likes of social distancing and
Zealand went further than more stringent hygiene practices
mitigation and moved towards being enforced. This was also
elimination. This has seen in the health care sector
created drastic changes to all with increased use of PPE and
New Zealanders day to day restructuring of the way
lives and the way the healthcare service was carried out.
system functions. With all these However, countries have
changes driven by mitigation, it continued to take inconsistent
has revealed important platforms approaches to mitigate Covid-19.
for discussions about
employment relations in the The world at a glance
health sector.
China was the first to roll out
stringent mitigation measures by
reducing travel, limiting socialinteraction and eventually business as usual and feeling
moving into quarantine to stamp unsafe in their work environment.
out the virus. However, other On top of this, essential workers
countries such as the United had to fit into the new regulations
States have taken a less stringent while facing added stress at work.
approach and are suffering the During the 2014–2016 Ebola
consequences.Currently the US virus outbreak in West Africa,
is the undisputed epicentre of a saturated health-care
the coronavirus pandemic with system led to increased rates of
336,830 confirmed cases which infection of other diseases and
is more than Spain, Italy and the deaths of health-care workers.
United Kingdom combined. Their Events like these highlight the
limited response is partially to importance of enhanced
blame, with no official lockdown support and mitigation policies to
and no added provision of support the health sector in crisis,
supplies to slow the spread, they and protect staff from infection.
are heading for a tipping point
that will result in immense loss of Examples of what needs to
life, damage to the health sector, happen in the New Zealand
and damage to its workers. New include:
Zealand observed the spread
running rampant globally and • Moving to shift rosters and
enlisted the mitigation working in pods, to reduce
policies alike China by turning to transmission and fatigue.
an elimination policy.
• Only doing essential work,
Stamping it out and working from home
where possible.
The Elimination policy saw NZ
move into a lockdown, • Being provided with
what this meant in the adequate PPE.
health sector was that all
non-essential work stopped, However, with the introduction of
work was reorganised, new the elimination policy a light was
rosters were devised, and tighter shone on what needs to happen
personal protective equipment in the New Zealand health sector
policies were rolled out. to control the spread of Covid-19.
Mitigation policies such as social
distancing and increased hygiene
methods were failing to properly All of these were forms of
deal with the virus and its mitigation and also ensured that
transmission. Workers from the workers were not fatigued or
Health sector were reporting becoming sick.“The mitigation and elimination
methods being used to stop
the spread of the virus, have
highlighted important issues
in relationships between
employees and employers
in the health sector.”
This situation also work and personal life interact,
highlighted some concerns within in the issue of childcare and
employment relations and other vulnerable people in their
how employers respond to lives. With these issues being
pandemics. Personal protective recognised, employees have
equipment was identified by been able to voice their
employees as inadequate, many concerns and make employers
were receiving insufficient stop and think about how they
training for the use of PPE, and are maintaining a safe
in some instances workers felt environment for their employees.
vulnerable and that normal
precautionary measures were not
in fact mitigating the spread of Therefore, the mitigation and
the virus. elimination methods being
used to stop the spread of the
virus, have highlighted important
Further, the move to shift issues in relationships between
rosters, and working in pods as employees and employers in the
a form of mitigation helps to health sector. With this added
control spread of the virus and focus on preventing spread,
ensure that the health system is more information has surfaced
not overloaded. This highlighted a about what employers should be
need for safe and effective doing to protect their
rostering and has made employees and has provided a
employers work together with platform for this to be considered.
employees to write rosters Furthermore, the policies that
collectively, to minimise the have been enlisted have helped
risk of fatigue. Additionally, by mitigate and eliminate this threat
moving to have some employees efficiently. With these mitigation
working from home, there has policies continuing to be used
been reduced interaction and we can only hope we flatten the
possibility for transmission. On curve and improve conditions for
top of this, employees have also workers moving forward.
been able to consider how theirRising
Unemployment
All economists are agreed that treated safely and well whilst at
the Covid-19 crisis will see work.
unemployment rise. There is
considerable debate about how
much it will rise, but there is In the 1980’s speaking in
general agreement that the years Auckland visiting British Trade
of very low unemployment will be Unionist Ken Capstick remarked
over for some time to come. The that ‘Unemployment is not a
gloomiest predictions suggest that scourge that blows in and out
unemployment could rise as high randomly on the wind, it is a tool of
28%. Such a dramatic change in the employers to discipline
arguably the most important of the workers and supress wages.’
common economic metrics will
inevitably impact collective
bargaining. That was during days of high
unemployment and he was
right of course. The Damocles
Already, quite aside from sword of unemployment hung
collective bargaining, we are over most bargaining tables in
hearing employers respond to those days, and to great effect. In
reasonable discussion about manufacturing workers cowered
changing rosters by throwing at the prospect of their employer
out the comment that ‘You’re moving offshore. Scared by the
lucky to have a job, just do it!’ prospect of joining the ranks of the
unemployed, ‘soft’ wage
settlements abounded. And
We can expect more of that as this to no avail, many of those
crisis continues. Of course, you employers moved offshore
are not ‘lucky’ to have a job, you anyway with scant regard for the
have a ‘right’ to have a job, and jobs they were destroying. Not one
then to be remunerated fairly and single job was saved by accepting
soft pay settlements.Of course, you
are not ‘lucky’
to have a job,
you have a
‘right’ to have
a job, and then
to be
remunerated
fairly and treated
safely and well
whilst at work...There is no evidence that wage economic activity, lower
increases cause or exacerbate spending, and smaller tax
unemployment, and in fact the take.
opposite is the case. As
early as the beginning of the • Failure to award fair pay
automobile age Henry Ford increases leads to a lower
already knew this. standard of living
He was famous for for affected workers.
understanding that unless he paid
his workers well, they would not • The Health Sector needs
have the money in their pockets to to remain attractive and
buy his product. It is also the case competitive as an
that having higher average wages employer during the current
ensures a higher tax take and more public health crisis, and in
money circulating in the economy. general for its contribution to
society.
So, as we prepare to face any • It does not help the
assertions at the bargaining unemployed to downgrade
table that we should be ‘grateful the value of jobs, and in fact
to have jobs’ and therefore accept diminishes the incentive for
low, or even zero, pay increases, the unemployed to enter the
lets stock up on the refutations: paid workforce.
• The right to a job is We will be in turbulent times for
fundamental in our society. some time to come and at this
Jobs are not reserved for the stage it is anyone’s guess how
lucky. future bargaining will pan out.
But we must resist being made
• Jobs have worth irrespective to feel as though we should
of the wider economic simper with gratitude to the
conditions. The skills, effort, generosity of our employers for
knowledge, responsibilities maintaining our jobs and resist
and qualifications that make their attempts to scare us with
up jobs remain the key the prospect of unemployment.
ingredients that must be
rewarded.
• If wages fall behind the
escalating costs and
pressures on workers, it can
lead to a spiral of reducedDuring the lockdown, Unions are
considered to perform essential
work, as long as non-essential
activity is conducted from home
Under Lockdown
APEX Operations or remotely. In health, our role in
supporting health workers has
indeed demanded considerable
work especially around health
and safety but also changing
rosters and ensuring terms and
conditions of employment
were not undermined as a
result of the covid response.
So what does our virtual
office look like? On the eve of the
lockdown, we all picked up our
laptops and headed home. We
did arrange for one person to
maintain a presence in the office
to answer phones and email out to
colleagues any resources they
might need. Our IT security is
reasonably “tight” as you can
probably imagine given the
significant amount of
personal information we hold.
Remote access to our system is
therefore restricted so ongoing
access to resources and
membership processing took a
bit of ingenuity: but we got there.
Our Daily Timetable
It seems like our virtual office the
new norm, but it did take a few
days to get into the swing of things.
We meet by zoom every morning
at 0900, catchup on yesterday’sevents, talk through national for scrubs (not that they are
and local information and PPE), gowns, goggles and visors.
developments, and review the day Dealing with the anxiety many
ahead. We might zoom again healthcare workers felt, and
at 2.00pm if the issues arising often patients as well, not just in
demand it. hospitals but importantly the
community, aged care and
disability sectors was a key part
There is a national Unions’ and of this work. And not just who
DHBs meeting at 1100 which should wear what but access
Deborah attends. This “group” and supply became issues as
has been responsible for maldistribution problems were
inputting into such resources as identified pretty early on
the vulnerable workers and 70+ and (in Deborah’s view) took
occupational health assessment, far to long to get resolved.
childcare arrangements,
accommodation options, leave
provisions and more recently The Ministry process is not a
attempted at the employers quick one with multiple layers of
request to land a workforce signoff required after each
flexibility document providing change to any document, so
guidance on how the things tend to go round
workforce might be more and round a bit, but
rapidly and flexibly deployed. overall we are getting there
This document hit a snag albeit the lag time is somewhat
as the DHBs “overlooked” the fact frustrating. This subgroup is also
that unions cannot diminish their assisting the Ministry’s media
member’s terms and conditions strategy around promoting health
of employment under our workers at this time.
respective collective agreements.
That is not to say the employers
can’t do more than the CAs, And at a local level, each DHB
they are after all minimum established a local engagement
rate documents, but we can’t group who had an APEX
reduce your entitlements! advocate assigned to it to ensure
communication with members in
each DHB flowed, that national
And at 3.00pm Deborah also advice is being followed and
attends a Ministry of Health implemented and of course
subgroup on behalf of all trouble shoot problems for
unions (alongside an NZNO and members. These meetings occur
MERAS advocate) to discuss 1-2 times a week depending
PPE. The Ministry of Health was on the DHB.
responsible for masks; the DHBsmeans “no MECA”…. Only to have
to be reacquainted given, as we
“Spare a thought seem to have to keep saying,
if you will however collective agreements continue
for those without to apply.
a collective
agreement. Spare a thought if you will
however for those without a
Too many collective agreement. Too
many employees in too many
employees in too workplaces enjoy a level of
many workplaces complacency about the security
enjoy a level of of an individual employment
agreement as opposed to a
complacency about collective. A collective must of
the security of an course be negotiated by a Union,
individual and in doing so will have the
benefit of professional advice
employment as well as the industrial strength
agreement as to ensure such provisions as
opposed to a redundancy, change management
and change to roster provisions,
collective....” penal rates and hours of work. At
times like this, especially when
threatened with redundancy, the
In the private sector, keeping in value of a collective agreement is
contact with members through obvious, albeit harder to secure.
delegates and employers alike
where issues arise, remains the
responsibility of the relevant What else have we
advocate. Luke specifically took
on the wage subsidy portfolio for
been up to?
our members affected by this.
For starters bargaining has
Luke is also our representative
continued albeit with HR staff
on the Holidays Act work, which
attempting to defer wherever
is continuing through this time.
possible. The DHB
Laboratory and NZBS MECA was
settled through facilitation which
And the advocates have been
occurred by zoom, ending any
kept busy with rosters changing in
protestations from DHB
the response to COVID with some
employers that bargaining
managers thinking that also
couldn’t occur unless face to face!Preparation for legal cases may also be unable to
also continues as well as proceed; so whilst on line and
representation of individual other support mechanisms for
members. Again zoom has delegates are being developed,
come to be an essential tool in the crucial engagement only
performance and grievance made possible by meeting
meetings. together will have to wait.
We have also continued to What’s next?
work on resources for you, this
journal being just one example. We have also prepared for what’s
Preparation for bargaining next: level 3 will allow more of us
coming up in the latter part of into the office but still not a full
the year including the creation of team if we are to maintain social
MECAs for our Anaesthetic distancing and other anti COVID
Technician members (amongst measures. So our virtual office
others) is also progressing, in one form or another is likely to
although with the economic remain with us for some time.
impact of COVID who knows
what we might face in the
coming months in the bargaining Thanks to everyone who has
environment. emailed rather than phoning in.
Despite email traffic increasing
by 30% over the last 4 weeks,
And our membership team given our isolated locations
continues to keep up to date it has helped us to ensure we
with members joining, going on continue to respond to you in a
parental leave, retiring and the like. timely fashion. Just one quick
tip:if you email ask@apex.org.nz
it will be referred onto the
What we can’t do, and appropriate advocate to respond
probably won’t be able to do for to. If you want to avoid that
some time, is get out into your intermediary step, email your
workplace to meet with you. The divisional email directly
inaugural APEX MCDHB e.g. lab@apex.org.nz or
collaberation meeting set mit@apex.org.nz (all divisional
to discuss fatigue and the emails are printed on the back
MCDHB building project has been page of this journal).
postponed as just one
example of the “freeze” on face
to face encounters. And our
September delegates meetingSocial Scientists
Scramble to
Patients
Study Pandemic,
in Real Time...Author Warren Cornwall explains how social scientists are
examining the ways in which the coronavirus pandemic is
affecting everything from people’s behavior to the economy.
The following article was originally published in the journal
Science on 8 April 2020.
If pandemic lockdowns have school programs. Behavioral
people feeling a bit like lab rats scientists are surveying
stuck in cages, in some ways thousands of people to see how
that’s exactly what they are. they respond to information in a
As the coronavirus touches on crisis.
virtually every part of life around
the globe, social scientists are
rushing to suck up real-time data James Heckman, a Nobel
on how people are responding Prize–winning economist at the
to the unfolding pandemic. University of Chicago, suggests
researchers need to take to heart
“Unlike physicists former Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emanuel’s adage: Never let a crisis
or biologists, social go to waste. “Here, scientifically, I
scientists are think we need to operate on that
frequently credo,” Heckman says. “We’re
constrained from getting new information. It’s very
valuable information.”
using controlled
experiments to test
hypotheses. But For some researchers, the
pandemic has created an
interventions such unexpected opportunity to
as natural disasters— run “natural experiments.”
or a pandemic—can Unlike physicists or biologists,
help create such social scientists are frequently
constrained from using controlled
experiments, if a experiments to test hypotheses.
researcher is ready No university, for instance,
to take advantage.” would approve an experiment
that involved firing one group of
Economists are gathering data workers and seeinghow they fare
about supply chains. Political compared with their still employed
scientists are scrutinizing how colleagues. But interventions
government responses track such as natural disasters—or a
with ideology. Psychologists pandemic—can help create such
are monitoring children in after experiments, if a researcher isready to take advantage. discrimination that has surged
with the virus, and what broader
lessons it might hold about
For example, some social these dynamics. “I did see [the
scientists are retooling existing pandemic] creating, I wouldn’t say
studies, hoping to capitalize on opportunity, but a unique context
the data they already collected in order to understand how some
to see how the virus is changing of these processes work,” she
things. Dillon Browne, a child says.
psychologist at the University
of Waterloo, was studying the
emotional well-being of kids in Economists are digging in as
after-school programs in Toronto. well. Matthew Kahn at Johns
Then, disaster struck. Twice. Hopkins University, Baltimore,
First, teachers started to go on has studied how industries
strike, periodically shuttering the cope with disasters. He and a
programs. Then, the pandemic collaborator are already gathering
closed them for good. The data to compare how companies
upheaval seemed like a disaster are adjusting, depending on their
for the research, Browne says. But supply chains and the different
now his team has turned it into restrictions imposed by countries
a study of how these dramatic around the world.
changes impacted 235 kids. “It’s
been rolling with the punches and
the punches keep flying,” he says. He’s also rewriting the closing
chapter to a new book about
the economics of climate
Charissa Cheah, a psychologist adaptation. Now, it’s going to
at the University of Maryland, talk about the coronavirus. “With
Baltimore County, is recalibrating any natural experiment, you’re
her research on how Chinese and studying the cause and effect. In
Korean American children in the real time, these companies are
state cope with discrimination. reoptimizing in the face of these
With money from the National shocks,” he says. University of
Science Foundation, which Chicago economist Lars Peter
is working to quickly fund Hansen, another Nobel laureate,
coronavirus-related research, isn’t embarking on any immediate
she’s surveying several hundred research. But he has long been
families she has studied over interested in how decision-
the past 5 years. She’s also makers and markets deal with
expanding to families elsewhere uncertainty. In a situation
in the country. She’s hoping to wracked with unknowns, he
learn how parents and children wants to examine how everyone
are responding to anti-Asian from investors to governmentpolicymakers to health care are going to stink it up this year,”
managers respond. “How to he says.
integrate uncertainty into these
kinds of decisions seems, to me,
a first-order challenge and it’s Experts who study communication
definitely something I want to during disasters are also getting
work on,” he says. funding to launch studies. With
help from a National Science
Foundation grant, Ellen Peters at
But Hansen and several others the University of Oregon, Eugene,
caution that much of the emerging has already surveyed 1300
research might not fit the classic people to see how their emotional
definition of a natural experiment, state connects to what actions
because the pandemic’s impacts they take to protect themselves
are so widespread and messy. The and who they considered reliable
best natural experiments usually sources of information. Her
look at similar groups of people team found that doctors and the
where one group experiences Centers for Disease Control and
a very specific change, says Prevention, ranked the highest
David Figlio, an economist at among both conservatives and
Northwestern University who has liberals, at 75% or higher.
worked extensively in education
policy. In contrast, virtually no
one has avoided the reach of In most disasters, such
the pandemic, and it touches so work would rely on people’s
many parts of life. “There have recollections after the worst has
been dozens of very smart people passed, Peters says. This time,
now saying, ‘Wow, this is going to “We’re actually trying to catch
be such an incredible opportunity people as it’s happening.” The
to study things. And I’m not so results could be of immediate
sanguine about that,” Figlio says. use to policymakers, who have
Figlio notes that some researchers already asked Peters for advice.
have suggested the mass shift to It could also shed light on
teaching classes online caused long-term questions about how
by the crisis could provide a people interpret risk and decide
natural experiment, testing how what to do in a disaster. Peters
students perform with online plans five rounds of surveys,
education versus face-to-face giving her a real-time window
classes. But he questions what into how people’s emotions
the results will really show, when and actions are evolving in this
many teachers are being forced globe-spanning experiment.
into online teaching with little
preparation. “My hunch is peopleUS coronavirus crisis
shows the benefit of
a universal health
system
The following is an exerpt from an article by Ian Powell (a Wellington
based health commentator and former executive director of the
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists) on the value of public
health systems, published on the Stuff NZ website on April 12 2020
“Americans have a system that players from the health insurers
has no sense of health being to drive its design which ensured
a public or common good. It is that the US system remained
provided through private health overwhelmingly private and
insurance, which is largely for-profit.
employer based, and has been
described as ‘an umbrella that
melts in the rain’. Already more He goes on to say…. without public
than 30 million Americans capacity to deal with Covid-19,
have no health insurance. It is even if tests, antivirals or
estimated that by July around a vaccines had been developed and
further 7 million Americans will approved in time, there were no
have become uninsured due to the institutions in place to administer
loss of jobs. On top of this almost it to millions of Americans at no
30% of American workers have no charge.
paid sick leave entitlement with
their employers.
And sumarises that…..Universal
public health systems are best
President Obama’s Affordable placed to deal with pandemics
Care Act made some because they are integrated and
improvements. But he selected whole-of-system.”PO Box 11 369
Ellerslie
Auckland 1542
P (09) 526 0280
secretary@apex.org.nz
membership@apex.org.nz
ask@apex.org.nz
www.apex.org.nz
Anaesthetic Technicians at@apex.org.nz
Audiologists audiologist@apex.org.nz
Biomedical Engineers biomed@apex.org.nz
Central Sterile Services cssd@apex.org.nz
Dental Therapists dental@apex.org.nz
Dietitians dietitian@apex.org.nz
Information Technology it@apex.org.nz
Managers stams@apex.org.nz
Medical Laboratory Workers lab@apex.org.nz
Medical Imaging Technologists mit@apex.org.nz
Occupational Therapists ot@apex.org.nz
Perfusionists perfusionist@apex.org.nz
Pharmacists pharmacist@apex.org.nz
Physicists physicist@apex.org.nz
Physiologists physiologist@apex.org.nz
Physiotherapists physio@apex.org.nz
Psychologists psychologist@apex.org.nz
Psychotherapists psychotherapist@apex.org.nz
Radiation Therapists rt@apex.org.nz
Scientific Officers scientist@apex.org.nz
Social Workers socialworker@apex.org.nz
Sonographers sonographer@apex.org.nz
Speech Language Therapists slt@apex.org.nzYou can also read
