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Dear Member
We welcome any feedback on the contents of the 5th issue for 2010 of ASMS Direct, our national electronic publication.
John Hawke RIP, 9 May 1930 – 19 April 2010
It is with much sadness that I have to advise members of the passing of John Hawke. John was on the salaried dentists group that merged into the ASMS when we were formed in 1989. He was elected to our first National Executive that same year and was elected National President in 1995 for a two-year term. John also played an important ASMS leadership role in the Auckland region, in particular Counties Manukau. He was also the ASMS’s first life member.
Moving Farewell
John’s funeral was held in Auckland last Friday. It was a moving but, consistent with his personality, humorous occasion. Reflecting the high regard, respect and love for John, it was well attended including many dental and medical colleagues. The touching words from his sons showed how proud they were of their father. There were moving tributes from close friends and professional colleagues – Drs Clive Ross, Nick Nicholas and James Judson (himself a former ASMS Vice President and subsequently our second life member). It was a wonderful send off for a wonderful human being.
For me the three things that really stood out at the funeral were John’s love and commitment to his wife Pam and the rest of his family; his powerful sense of service that goes with the ethos of being a health professional; and the extraordinary respect, love and affection his family, his inexhaustible supply of friends, and his colleagues have for him. There is also his remarkable use of humour, usually based on anecdote than jokes, often in a way to demonstrate respect for people rather than scorn.
Industrial Contribution
Professionally John is known for his work in dentistry, both at Middlemore and the wider Auckland region (and nationally). This includes his interface with intensive care units. But his industrial work on behalf of colleagues also deserves recognition. He was a key player in the achievement of salary parity between senior dentists and doctors in 1990.
But if I was to identify the most significant contribution made by an ASMS member to the terms and conditions of all members employed by DHBs (and their predecessors) it would have to be the enormous effort by John Hawke in achieving a settlement in what was then called South Auckland Health in 1993. This was a time when the ASMS was in considerable difficulty. The health system had been fragmented, our right to negotiate a national agreement was lost under the then Employment Contracts Act (subsequently repealed), and our new employers were promoting individual ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ individual contracts rather than collective negotiations. The ASMS was in trouble and its future vulnerable with our employers (then crown health enterprises) frustrating our efforts to negotiate collectively with them.
But a major breakthrough was achieved in South Auckland with a collective settlement that enhanced terms and conditions, particularly salaries, the magnitude of which had not been seen for many years and has not been seen since. It is difficult to see how this could have been achieved in the collective way it was without John’s leadership and self-evident integrity. He commanded the respect of the managers we had to negotiate with and helped pave the way to successful resolution.
The real significance, however, was that although a local settlement its national implications were immense. The ASMS was able to use this settlement to take advantage of the competitive ideology of the day by ratcheting it in various forms and degrees in the rest of the country. His efforts helped enable the ASMS to get on the front foot in what was a ‘wild west’ industrial environment and all members significantly benefited financially as a result. This ratcheting continued for the rest of the decade and provided the foundations for the consolidation achieved in our first national MECA in 2003. Part of this local settlement was the collective recognition of job sizing, which has also over the years, successfully enhanced remuneration where hours worked exceeded hours paid.
Farewell John
I was honoured to have the opportunity to say a few words at the funeral. My concluding comment was that John adhered to values that stood the test of time and that one became a better person by knowing him.
But appropriately the last word rests with the man himself in a tender conversation with ASMS Senior Industrial Officer, Henry Stubbs the week before passing away. John was looking a bit tired and Henry spoke gently to him that he guessed John knew where he was going and asked him how he felt. John responded “yes, I think so, I’m not in a very nice place at the moment but I’ve had a lot of fun getting here.”
Ian Powell
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | 
