Spotless Offers to Lift Lockout

Spotless Services has offered to lift its lockouts if the SFWU agrees to a health and safety strike protocol. This offer was first made yesterday, but as yet no response has been received from the union.

"As long as the union agrees to have regard for the health and safety of patients, hospital workers and visitors, and signs the protocol, we are prepared to lift the lockouts as the union has been demanding," said Mark Russell, General Manager Spotless Healthcare Services.

The lockouts were introduced by Spotless for health and safety reasons in response to the disruptive nature of the union's rolling strikes. However, the union has consistently attacked the lockouts. Agreeing to the protocol would enable the union to strike without being locked out, while ensuring patient health and safety is managed.

"If the union is prepared to provide some certainty around patient health and safety, then we can lift these lockouts. But otherwise, we have no choice but to keep the lockouts in place."

"The union has been demanding we lift the lockouts. Here is an opportunity for that to happen. There is nothing unreasonable in what we are asking the union to agree to in the protocol," said Russell.

The protocol includes the likes of undertakings from the union to notify Spotless of changes to its strike plans 24 hours in advance, so that arrangements can be put in place at hospitals to ensure adequate patient health and safety. A copy of the protocol is provided below.

The SFWU rolling strikes have been designed so that each individual strikes takes 55 minutes in every hour - but with the strikers intending to return to their jobs for the residual five minutes in every hour. Under the Employment Relations Act, in the absence of a lock out, covering staff are required to stop work every time the striking staff came back on site.

"Spotless cannot guarantee adequate levels of health and safety for patients in hospitals with striking and non-striking staff continuously coming and going at short notice and continuously interrupting their work. We do not want to see patients being abandoned on their trolley half way to theatre, uncooked food and cleaning equipment lying about the corridors," said Russell.

Meanwhile, Russell commented that mediation talk initiated by Spotless today had been unsuccessful with the union refusing to bargain despite the numerous guarantees and concessions Spotless had made as a starting point for negotiations.

"Unfortunately, we have a situation in which union members continue to strike for wages they have already been guaranteed, although we are not sure this message has been conveyed to them by the SFWU" said Russell.

As a starting point for bargaining, Spotless has already made the following guarantees:
* that every current Spotless employee will receive wages at least as high as DHB staff - with the opportunity for some to earn more.

* that it will pass every cent of additional DHB funding onto its staff (and has agreed to auditing mechanisms to provide certainty)

* that every Spotless employee will receive, as a bottomline, comparable wages to DHB staff

Spotless also wants 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. The union refuses to discuss this.

"We will keep doing everything we can to get the union around the bargaining table to find a settlement for employees so that we can get their higher wages introduced as soon as possible," said Russell.

ENDS

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