Lab Workers Union Makes Mockery Of Negotiation DHB

Lab Workers’ Union Makes Mockery Of Negotiation

District Health Boards say The Laboratory Workers’ Union is making a mockery of the serious efforts to settle their long-running pay dispute.

“On Friday, the union agreed to return to mediation, but within hours it served a series of strike notices to escalate the dispute,” says DHB Spokesman, Gordon Davies – CEO of Canterbury DHB.

“This shows a degree of predetermination that undermines the mediation process and efforts we’re making to try and end this dispute. If the union has no intention of moving from its hard-line position, then its President Stewart Smith should be honest enough to say so and not waste their time or ours.

Mr Davies says both parties have moved significantly on base salary, but the union has two other non-negotiable demands that haven’t changed since negotiations started last year.

“Lab workers want provisions in their agreements about contracting out that are already provided by the Employment Relations Act. In addition, we want to discuss how rosters are developed – it is not an attack on hours, but we can’t explain what we want to achieve if the union refuses to discuss it.

“If their union isn’t prepared to engage on these points, then there is little chance of progress.”

The action threatened by lab workers now ranges from a 24 hour strike at NZ Blood Services on 22 May, through to a range of out of hours work bans at selected hospitals and more notices are expected over the coming week.

“Lab workers have been on strike for 11 days over the last six months, that equates to about 4% in lost wages – that action clearly hasn’t worked, now the union is changing its tactics trying to cause as much disruption as possible while minimising the loss of pay.”

“We’ve offered Lab workers 8.5% over three years with a pay scale from $45,000 to $56,000 for entry level scientists – experienced staff will earn considerably more. In addition, they will get automatic annual increments that average around 2% a year. What we’re asking for in return is some rostering flexibility.

“This new style of action shows scant regard for their colleagues who are working extremely hard to maintain standards and services for patients.”`

Background: The Lab Workers Negotiations

Both parties have moved significantly on base salary and the gap is relatively small, the union has several other claims on the table that have a significant cost. It also has two other non-negotiable demands that haven’t changed since negotiations started last year and are proving a bigger obstacle to a settlement.

The three areas of focus in the negotiation are:

Salary – DHBs have offered 8.5% on top of annual increments averaging 1.4% - a total of nearly 10% over 3 years in exchange for some flexibility in hours of work. The union is claiming 9% (plus increments) for roughly the same term, but also has a range of other conditions such as superannuation and additional time off which raises the cost of the claim quite significantly.

Coverage – the union wants to include private laboratories in the MECA and automatically make any other provider taking over DHB work party to the contract. The stated driver is maintaining conditions, although the law already protects terms and conditions of people whose work is contracted out. Existing private providers also have made it clear that they do not wish to be a party to a MECA oriented primarily towards DHBs, and have attempted to negotiate their own agreement directly with the union.

Hours of Work – DHBs want to consult about the development of rosters to better meet operational needs and to increase working flexibility for this group. The present agreement requires each employee’s agreement to a change and we want a mutually acceptable and operationally realistic system. We are unable to discuss how our proposal would work because the union has been refusing to discuss the matter.

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