Some 300 workers at the New Zealand Blood Service are celebrating a pay parity settlement that puts them on par with workers employed by Te Whatu Ora who do the same jobs.

"This settlement will help many health workers better cope with the cost-of-living pressures on their household budget," said Ashok Shankar, Health Sector Lead at the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.

Lab workers, scientists, technicians, and administrators at New Zealand Blood Service have voted to accept a pay offer which was made following industrial action in May and June.

"People working at New Zealand Blood Service knew it wasn’t right they were getting paid significantly less than their colleagues at Te Whatu Ora," said Shankar.

"They collectively stood up for themselves by taking strike action. This settlement will make a big difference for themselves and their families, and to strong blood services people can rely on."

"We sent a clear message then that an offer that failed to provide pay parity with our Te Whatu Ora colleagues and compensate for cost-of-living pressures was unacceptable. The poor pay and inequity has been forcing people out of the service and making it harder to recruit so we’re very happy to have made this breakthrough at long last."

The offer provides a range of increases recognising pay parity and cost of living pressures of between 17% and 40%.

People working at the New Zealand Blood Service deliver all major blood services in Aotearoa. They organise donation drives, match donations with patients, process and transport blood and blood products, and manage hospital blood banks for both public and private health services.

"Our members do incredibly important work at the New Zealand Blood Service to ensure blood is delivered at the right time in the right way to ensure patients get what they need for operations and other procedures across the public and private health services," said Shankar.

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