DHB Funds for Union Coffers

Spotless Services Media Release

17 July 2007

DHB Funds for Union Coffers

Spotless has finally obtained a copy of the agreement reached between the SFWU and the DHBs. It involves all public hospital sector cleaners, orderlies and cooks – both unionised and non-unionised – paying up to $613 of compulsory fees to the union over two years, or approximately five per cent of pending wage increases.

From non-unionised Spotless staff alone, this could generate for the SFWU between $300,000 and $400,000 of new Government health sector funding.

“The SFWU has been demanding that Spotless sign up to an agreement it had never seen, let alone negotiated. Now we understand why. The union is expecting Spotless to sign a contract that could see many hundreds of thousands of dollars poured straight into union coffers,” said Mark Russell, General Manager Spotless Healthcare Services.

The union fees built into the DHB agreement mean that to receive the wage increases agreed by the DHBs, all employees, unionised or not, will need to pay the union a fee of up to $5.90 per week. This is despite commitments that this funding package is to be applied to ALL “low paid” health workers, not just union members.

“The SFWU has had the audacity to the accuse Spotless of seeking to profit from the extra funds being poured into the health sector. This is absolutely untrue. Instead, it is the SFWU helping itself to funds intended for staff.”

“The SFWU has also accused Spotless of somehow blocking wages to its staff. This was never true. We always guaranteed to pass on every cent of funding to staff, and as a starting point, to at least match DHB wage rates for current Spotless staff.”

“The SFWU has taken its members out on strike, put them out of pocket, despite Spotless guaranteeing, as a starting point for negotiation that every current Spotless staff member would receive at least the same wages as DHB staff – with the opportunity for some to earn more.”

“The SFWU’s agenda has always been far more than wages. It has been about union power and control, and now we know it is also about union fees and union funds. The SFWU has not been telling either their own members or the public the full story,” said Russell.

Spotless is the health service sectors biggest employer, with more cooking, cleaning and orderly staff than the combined DHBs. We have approximately 1500 staff across 17 hospital sites.”

“As a business we need to be able to negotiate the specific details of our collective employment agreement. We are not going to forego that fundamental right. It is crazy to think we should have to accept blindly somebody’s else contract, one we haven’t seen and one we find includes fees that will not go to staff, but straight to the union.”

“We also want to discuss with the union a simple, targeted link between pay and skills that we believe is important for building staff capability and leadership qualities, which we see as good news for staff, Spotless and the productivity of the health sector.”

“Spotless is looking at all options for encouraging the union to lift its strike notices so that lock outs can also be withdrawn and we can get on with finding a settlement for staff,” said Russell.

ENDS

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