5 minute read
A union man through and through
Henry with his trademark braces
Elizabeth Brown | Senior Communications Advisor
When Senior Industrial Officer Henry Stubbs retires this month, not only will it end his 28 years at ASMS, it will also bookend a near lifetime career of unionism.
Henry started with ASMS in 1994, just a few years after it was founded, becoming its first ever industrial officer.
In the years since, he has supported hundreds of ASMS members and been integral to the growth of the union, not to mention a wise and generous colleague to ASMS staff through the years.
Henry came to ASMS with strong union credentials. As a young man he abandoned a law degree to become a full-time Wellington bus driver. Against the grain of his conservative National Party family, he joined the Tramways Union, moving up the ranks to become President of the Wellington branch and then its National Secretary.
With an office in Wellington’s Trades Hall, Henry was lucky to escape the 1984 bombing that killed cleaner Ernie Abbott.
“The bomb was in an old-styled school case and sat outside my office all day on the ground floor until five o’clock, when unfortunately, Ernie picked it up. I had been in a meeting down the hall with several others and we had left the building about 15 minutes before the blast.”
In the late 1980s Henry went back to university to finish his law degree. Keen to support the fight-back against the introduction of the union-busting Employment Contracts Act (ECA), he joined the insurance and bank workers’ union FINSEC as its Central Regional Secretary.
An ideal fit
In 1994 an ad for a foundation industrial officer at ASMS caught his eye. Armed with a reference from Council of Trade Unions President Ken Douglas, Henry saw it as an ideal fit.
“They wanted someone who was legally qualified, which I was; they wanted someone with union experience, which I had a great deal of; and as a bonus my father and both grandfathers were doctors, so I was familiar with the medical community and the system.”
At the time ASMS had 1,400 members.
Led by Executive Director Ian Powell, Henry says the focus was to build union membership and finances and show that ASMS was “here to stay”. At the time, many unions were being destroyed and the unionised workforce fell from 80% to well below 50%.
“The health sector was completely shaken up by the so-called health reforms which had grown out of the neo-liberal economic and political order that had spawned the ECA. The reforms were predicated on the belief that if you turned health into a competitive market, it would be cheaper,” says Henry.
driven Crown Health Enterprises. The way was also paved for job-sizing, and payments for after hours and on call. Salaries for ASMS members grew significantly, which in turn encouraged recruitment and growth. Henry was busy. “The overwhelming majority of doctors knew they’d been badly treated, they knew they were underpaid, they knew they were overworked, and they were crying out for a bunch of professional skilful people through the union to negotiate on their behalf, represent them and enforce the contracts and agreements they had entered into.” Henry is most proud of his work helping people through employment disputes, particularly the development of Clause 42 in the MECA, which covers investigations of clinical practice. “I’ve enjoyed working with lawyers to ensure that whatever concerns are raised about a member that they are investigated fairly and properly with the least disruption to a person’s clinical practice and least damage to their professional reputation. It’s important.”
An empathetic advocate
Former National Executive and honorary lifetime member Dr Judy Bent got to know Henry in 1997 through her work on the National Executive and ongoing issues at the Auckland District Health Board.
What stood out were his reasoning and analytical skills and his unwavering support of members.
“Henry was deeply committed to supporting individuals but wouldn’t let the wool be pulled over his eyes. He could get to the nub of issues very quickly and solve problems.” “He dealt with everyone in a calm and reasonable manner and was the soul of discretion,” she adds.
Long-time and well-known Wellington trade unionist Paul Tolich, who has known ‘Stubbsie’ since the 1970s, is also full of praise. “Henry has always been a great advocate for working people. He has real skills at working on personal cases because he is empathetic, listens, and does the right thing by people.” As Henry looks back on his lengthy career, he has been disturbed to witness rising job stress and burnout among members, and the lack of action from health management. “If you exhaust doctors, if you don’t respond to the endless signs that they are working under stress, then you are complicit when they fall over.” “My colleagues and I are finding it very frustrating dealing with people who should have been supported two, three, four years earlier and with a little more care can be rehabilitated to go on and continue their careers with pleasure and to the benefit of everyone.”
Self-reflecting on his 28 years at ASMS, Henry says, “A number of our members have probably found me a sometimes interesting and sometimes difficult character to deal with because I understand I have my idiosyncrasies and I can be a bit direct and a bit blunt.”
“But I come from a medical family, I know doctors, I’ve seen the pressures they work under so my task has been to help them solve their problems and that’s what I’ve enjoyed doing.” Now 71, Henry is ready to embrace retirement, although he will miss the social and collegial aspects of working. Henry is being farewelled by members, former members, and his ASMS and union colleagues at a special function later this month before he formally leaves the building on 30 June.
Go well Henry!
